Latin American countries crack down on junk food

摘要

Sergio Escalante got a shock at lunchtime on the first day of school this year. His school's food kiosk no longer offered the usual fare-potato crisps, cookies, sweets, soft drinks, and sandwiches dripping with creamy sauces. "He came home and said there was nothing to eat", his mother, Miriam Gonzalez, a nurse, recalled with a chuckle. "They were selling fruit and chicken sandwiches without mayonnaise-to him, that meant 'nothing to eat'." The food concession was lining up with Peru's new healthy food law, which aims to tackle the country's rising obesity rate by getting children onto a healthier diet. Peru's law is the latest in a series of efforts by Latin American countries to tackle a public health problem that has accompanied the economic boom of the past two decades-more overweight kids and an increase in non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular problems. But although several countries have passed laws, implementing regulations have lagged, and some public health experts are calling for international measures-such as the ones used to tackle cigarette sales-to counter what they say is powerful lobbying by the food and advertising industries. Peru's law immediately drew criticism from legislators, advertisers, and even the Catholic archbishop of Lima, who said that shaping children's dietary habits was a job for parents, not the government.