Food and nutrition policies: what’s being done in Turkey Gu ¨lden Pekcan* Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Division of Community Nutrition, Hacettepe University, 06100 Ankara, Turkey Abstract Objective: The aim of the present paper is to describe the development of the National Plan of Action for Food and Nutrition (NPAFN) for Turkey. Design: Access to a safe and healthy variety of food, a fundamental human right, was stressed by the International Conference on Nutrition and by the World Food Summit. In the International Conference on Nutrition in December 1992, one major commitment was the preparation of NPAFN. The NPAFN for Turkey was designed according to this commitment. Setting: Turkey. Results: To this end, under the coordination of the State Planning Organization, a Working Committee Report for National Food and Nutrition Strategy of Turkey was prepared and published, with the participation of different sectors. The goal of the prepared National Food and Nutrition Strategy for Turkey is to protect and promote health through and healthy nutrition and reduce the burden of diseases, while contributing to socio-economic development and a sustainable food security. Conclusion: In Turkey the NPAFN was developed and implementation has initiated. Nearly for all the actions, related projects are being developed. Keywords Food and nutrition policy Food security Food safety Nutrition Turkey Access to a safe and healthy variety of food, a fundamental human right, was stressed by the Inter- national Conference on Nutrition (ICN; 1992, 1996) and by the World Food Summit (WFS;1992, 2002). In the ICN in December 1992, one major commitment was the preparation of a National Plan of Action for Nutrition (NPAN). In the WFS (1996, 2002), countries and the European Community pledged their political will and their common and national commitment to ‘achieving food security for all and to an on-going effort to eradicate hunger in all countries, with an immediate view to reducing the number of undernourished people to half their present level no later than 2015’ 1,2 . Following the ICN and WFS, depending on the commitments, Turkey has given priority to develop a number of activities and plan of actions. The develop- ment and implementation of activities demand multi- sectoral and intersectoral coordinated efforts of various ministries, institutions, the private sector, international and regional organisations, universities, the food industry and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), etc. 3 . To this end, under the coordination of the State Planning Organization (SPO), a Working Committee Report for National Food and Nutrition Strategy of Turkey was prepared and published, with the partici- pation of different sectors 4 . Country background In many reports and publications the nutrition and health problems, also the food situation of Turkey (agricultural production, land use, food security and economy, trends in food supply) were reviewed 4–9 . Geographic and demographic profiles, and health status Some variables of Turkey are given in Table 1 10,11 . Food and nutrition situation Food security Turkey is a major agricultural producer. With respect to its climate and land nature, Turkey is suitable for the production of various products. The share of the crop production in agricultural production is 73.5%, the share of wheat in grains is 67% 4 . Wheat is staple food for the Turkish people. The major percentage of energy comes from bread (44%) and bread and other cereals (58%) 7,9 . According to FAO Food Balance Sheets, Turkish people appeared to be well nourished. Dietary energy supply was estimated as 3500 kcal per person 9 . The total protein consumption per capita was estimated as high, but maldistribution and the poor quality of much of the food consumed in Turkey are not properly demonstrated in food balance sheets. q The Author 2006 *Corresponding author: Email gpekcan@hacettepe.edu.tr Public Health Nutrition: 9(1A), 158–162 DOI: 10.1079/PHN2005939 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. 29 Nov 2021 at 10:47:33, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use.