Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on 17 February 2008, Professor W. Philip T. James challenged food industry leaders "to be more socially responsible by not overpricing healthy foods and make them affordable for all consumers". According to him, world agricultural production needs to be prioritised to increase the supply of locally sourced fresh foods, such as fruit and vegetables.
One of the top priorities, according to Professor James, is to challenge the world's food industry sector "to go much further in transforming its products and to reduce the heavy promotion and abundant array of high energy dense foods".
He said that "combinations of fats, sugar and salt appeal to the most innate instincts to consume" adding that for half a century, the food technology industry had refined the production technique of an array of artificial combinations of flavours "that can hook us on particular types of foods".
Furthermore, James underlined that much of the present high calorie density of food production has "a massive carbon footprint and requires wasteful amounts of energy and water," while climate change will inevitably impact on agricultural production everywhere, "affecting both water supply and the variety and quality of crops that can be grown in different parts of the world".
Therefore, he said, obesity must be tackled in the same way as climate change, with world leaders agreeing on action to change "the environment that is making us fat". According to James, if the world was to provide its eight billion or so people with a healthy diet by 2030, "a rescue plan for the planet" was needed not just to address global warming, but "to ensure we have sufficient healthy food to feed everyone."
In addition to changes in attitudes "in the boardrooms of the major food companies and food chain suppliers," Professor James called on politicians to improve public transport and decrease the use of motor cars instead of "pouring billions into continuing to create car-filled town centres and expensive motorway networks". This would counteract the sedentary nature of modern living and creating opportunities for people to be active, he said.
A European Parliament declaration adopted on 18 February 2008 calls on the Commission to take appropriate measures to remedy the abusive power of large supermarkets operating in the EU. These retailers have, according to MEPs, become "gatekeepers controlling farmers' and other suppliers' only real access to EU consumers".
