Monitoring the price and affordability of foods and diets globally
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Date
2013
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons
Abstract
Food prices and food affordability are important determinants of food
choices, obesity and non-communicable diseases. As governments around
the world consider policies to promote the consumption of healthier foods,
data on the relative price and affordability of foods, with a particular focus
on the difference between ‘less healthy’ and ‘healthy’ foods and diets, are
urgently needed. This paper briefly reviews past and current approaches to
monitoring food prices, and identifies key issues affecting the development
of practical tools and methods for food price data collection, analysis and
reporting. A step-wise monitoring framework, including measurement indicators,
is proposed. ‘Minimal’ data collection will assess the differential
price of ‘healthy’ and ‘less healthy’ foods; ‘expanded’ monitoring will assess
the differential price of ‘healthy’ and ‘less healthy’ diets; and the ‘optimal’
approach will also monitor food affordability, by taking into account
household income. The monitoring of the price and affordability of
‘healthy’ and ‘less healthy’ foods and diets globally will provide robust data
and benchmarks to inform economic and fiscal policy responses. Given the
range of methodological, cultural and logistical challenges in this area, it is
imperative that all aspects of the proposed monitoring framework are
tested rigorously before implementation.
Description
Keywords
Food prices, Food affordability, Non-communicable disease, Food policy
Citation
Lee, A. et al. (2013). Monitoring the price and affordability of foods and diets globally. Obesity Review, 14 (1): 82–95