Abstract:
Most governments have committed to the set of Sustainable Development Goals established by the
United Nations (UN) to be achieved by 2030. Subsequently the governments have drafted, or are in process
of drafting, policies and programmes which aim to answer to these global requests. South Africa provides
a unique case study: despite economic growth, undernutrition has not improved when compared to
other industrialised nations, while at the same time, diet-related non-communicable diseases and obesity
have exponentially increased. Access to healthy food is a constitutional right of all South Africans, and
towards increasing food security and improving population health, various policies, programmes and regulations
have been developed and implemented by the government to rectify the situation. The paper
presents an overview of food composition within these public health policies, programmes and regulations
and unpacks the important role of accurate food composition data.
