Food costs are rising and hunger is a heart-breaking reality for some people.But selecting an out of season fruit to highlight the issue of food prices won’t change that.Nor does it actually help people.Where has the age-old advice to buy in season and also to use nutritionally-similar frozen and canned as an alternative gone?

Is the price of milk yet another example of consumer expectations being formed by media to generate interest in a story that is now considered a major issue?Is the way this issue is being played out also telling people that milk should be cheaper than soft drinks?

Because so few people actually understand the food manufacturing process, it is not well understood that milk – a high nutritional value fresh protein food – costs far more to produce (think livestock management, cool chain processing, packaging, handling and storage).And because shelf stable soft drinks are simpler and cheaper to produce, their makers are frequently chastised by suggestions they are enticing people to put soft drinks in their trolley in place of milk.

The commentators who see a good story idea with some opportunity to link it to an issue of public good, often don’t present the full picture, and as a result the public’s interest isn’t served because attention to one aspect ignores potentially bigger issues. Perhaps they think people are too simple to understand a more complicated analysis of society?

Now a new dimension has emerged, with media commentators offering their own personal opinion on subjects others have had to spend years studying at university.A weekly food product analysis in a certain weekend paper is a case in point.While it offers some interesting observations on what’s in foods, and clearly scrutiny of food composition is important, the naivety of some of the comments would embarrass a new food technology graduate.And certainly frustrate most nutritionists.

Surely for this and other examples, there should be some level of accuracy and expert input to ensure a better degree of accuracy and perspective?That, to my mind would serve the public good a whole lot better.

Even Shortland Street has medical experts advising them on accuracy and we all know this is fictitious in the extreme.Credibility and impact of the media can only be eroded over time if these sorts of issues are not addressed. Then they really will be unable to protect and defend the interest of the public they represent.

A new computer system

In principle it sounds like a great idea but on the other hand, are we not depriving them of an opportunity to use their own decision making skills, in what would surely be a somewhat controlled environment?

As with most things I guess it depends on how we put it into practice.  Food police parents are likely to be pretty vigilant at home and will aim to encourage the same at school.  Many would argue that the school cafeterias should not be offering ‘inappropriate’ food choices anyway.  But those children who want to beat the system will always find a way, whether it’s at school or elsewhere.

At the other end of the scale there are the permissive parents who, given their more relaxed attitude are probably not going to worry too much anyway – at school or home.  And somewhere in the middle – my personal favourite – one hopes that common sense prevails.

For younger children I am sure that it could be a useful tool to help them learn about making healthy food choices.  But as they get older surely we need to offer them the chance to make their own decisions?  Yes there will be some downsides but with a good foundation they will eventually realise that eating only treat foods isn’t all that fulfilling.

I often wonder if parents of children who are growing rapidly are in fact offering sufficient high energy density foods to meet their needs.  A teenage boy for example can burn twice the energy of a sedentary adult male.  A desire for high energy snacks is just as likely to be due to a genuine need for energy in some as it is due to poor decision making in others.

On the other hand we know from the national nutrition surveys that as children get older and begin to exercise more free will, the overall nutrient intake changes – and not usually for the good. In particular consumption of dairy, fruit and vegetables goes down.

So what is the best way to encourage children to choose the right food and beverages at school?  Should we not be putting our energy into making sure what is on offer is appealing, tasty and good quality – nutritionally and aesthetically?

Politics might be about people, but at the end of the day it is the fiscal health of our country and the impact an issue has on that health that is guaranteed to exercise the conscience and therefore policy direction of our government.

Obesity is the perfect example of this.  One of, if not the main reason obesity has become a major political issue during the past decade is the cost to New Zealand now and in the future.  But in identifying this problem what have we tangibly done to address it?

For almost a decade we have seen an enormous amount of time used in consulting, planning, lobbying and networking, in order to decide how we can help people overcome all of these issues that apparently are absolutely no fault of their own. Note the “how we can help”.

But are we really any further forward?  Do we have a decisive road map on how, in the medium and long-term, we can address these issues, or the very least the confidence in our convictions that we are making some in-roads?  Certainly there has been some progress but often these are specific and isolated outcomes.  I also know that the food industry (I freely admit my own involvement within the food industry) has done a huge amount to “assist”.

It now seems that our new Minister of Health is calling for greater focus on putting the money directly into fixing the problem and the word is that we want actions and outcomes not plans and pontification.  But what will this mean in the area of obesity?  Fat camps or social welfare benefits for people who are the right weight only?

If we look at our US counterparts who are also taking a fresh and very serious look at these matters there could be some lessons to be learnt.  A recent address by President Obama, to the annual American Medical Association conference highlights the key strategies needed to “fix” the US health system and if we listen carefully the situation really is dire.

Most interestingly President Obama specifically identifies greater investment in preventive care “so that we can avoid illness and disease in the first place” as the second most important focus for his administration in order to get the health system back on track.

It only comes second because the first area to tackle is that of a more efficient and integrated record keeping system. It seems that in America there is far greater success tracking a Fedex parcel than a person’s medical records.  It also results in significant cost blowouts right across the system.

The most refreshing aspect of his focus on preventive care is that it directly links to personal responsibility – listen to his words.

“That starts with each of us taking more responsibility for our health and the health of our children. It means quitting smoking, going in for that mammogram or colon cancer screening. It means going for a run or hitting the gym, and raising our children to step away from the video games and spend more time playing outside.

“It also means cutting down on all the junk food that is fueling an epidemic of obesity, putting far too many Americans, young and old, at greater risk of costly, chronic conditions. That’s a lesson Michelle and I have tried to instill in our daughters with the White House vegetable garden that Michelle planted. And that’s a lesson that we should work with local school districts to incorporate into their school lunch programs.”

President Obama predicts that within a decade one of every five dollars earned will go towards health care.  In thirty years (when our own children will be working) one in three dollars will be spent on health care.  The future cost of health could potentially be the undoing of a modern society’s financial stability.

What I found particularly interesting was the fact that the US health system costs US$2 trillion every year and they apparently spend 50% more per person than the next most costly nation.  Despite that over 100,000 people a year die from medical misadventure.

So it is up to us as individuals to take responsibility for their health and the future health of their own children. To me it is a flash of the blinding obvious.

So to the question posed in the title.  Whose responsibility is it anyway?  Surely it is everyone’s?  So let’s park the blame game and get on with doing our bit.  But let’s do it for ourselves first!

Given the newness of this space to the business world and the rapid development of new social media platforms, the knowledge and skill level of people participating is wide and varied.  As qualified scientists, nutritionists and food industry experts we often find it challenging to accept the opinions of the new breed of influencers who are moving into this space.  But there is no question; their opinions are influential.

It’s therefore even more important to jump in and get involved.  The on-line social media universe is really only in its adolescence and we know how difficult teenagers can be to understand. But when they do grow up into more mature adults the real benefits become apparent.

There are also some new rules for interaction and for most people the best way to start out is simply to explore, participate, listen and learn.  I heard someone recently liken the rise of social media networks to the advent of the motor car.  When cars were new we all used to dress up and enjoy the journey, regardless of the destination.  Now that they’re an everyday necessity we see them as a means to an end.  So now’s the time to be enjoying your journey with social media – and you will be pleasantly surprised at what you discover.

There are endless numbers of food-lovers blogs out there.  Some of the health and nutrition related ones we monitor regularly are listed on the blogroll to the right of the page, and some good local information sites can be found amongst the links.  Please feel free to post your own favourites in the comments box.  We’re especially keen to know more about other nutrition and health blog sites from within New Zealand.