The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Good Food Institute (GFI) APAC have signed a multi-year partnership to study how alternative proteins, such as plant-based, fermentation-derived and cultivated meat, could fit into public health policy in Asia-Pacific, Green Queen reported. The region is home to around 60% of the world's people.
The agreement with the WHO's Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health in the Western Pacific Region (ACE) was ratified at a ceremony in Seoul and announced at the World Food Forum at FAO headquarters in Rome. Under it, the WHO will publish what it calls a first-of-its-kind report on the role of alternative proteins in diets, to be followed by seminars and technical briefs aimed at building policy agreement. The deal also funds two technical staff at the WHO and an external academic researcher, all based in South Korea.
"In the WHO Western Pacific region, nine out of 10 deaths are now caused by non-communicable diseases, and many of these are diet-related," said Sandro Demaio, director and head of the ACE. "At the same time, our food systems are putting increasing pressure on the environment." He said the partners would strengthen the evidence on alternative proteins and explore their health, environmental and climate dimensions with member states through policy dialogue and capacity building.
According to GFI APAC, Asia-Pacific is responsible for 45% of global agrifood emissions, and antibiotic use in livestock is significantly higher in Asia because of intensive confinement, which raises the risk of drug-resistant infections. GFI APAC argues that alternative proteins remove the need for antibiotics in production and can offer more fibre and less saturated fat than processed meat; these are the advocacy group's claims, which the WHO report is meant to test.
For livestock farmers and feed businesses in the region, the partnership signals that health agencies are starting to look at protein supply as part of diet policy, and that evidence, not only markets, will shape how these foods are treated.
Photo: World Economic Forum / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Source: Green Queen
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