U.N. expert declares that junk food is human-rights concern

A U.N. expert says junk food is a human rights concern.

Hilal Elver, the U.N.'s special representative on the right to food, said Tuesday that the rise of industrial food production combined with trade liberalization has allowed large corporations to flood the global market with cheap, nutrient-poor foods that force poor people to choose between economic viability and nutrition, effectively violating their right to adequate food.

"Within the human rights framework, states are obliged to ensure effective measures to regulate the food industry, ensure that nutrition policymaking spaces are free from private sector influence, and implement comprehensive policies that combat malnutrition in all its forms," she said.

Elver said countries must go beyond simply ensuring their people the minimum survival requirements and ensure access to nutritionally adequate food. She said that the international community is failing to meet globally agreed upon nutrition targets that seek to eradicate malnutrition in all its forms. While there were nearly 800 million people living in hunger around the globe, more than two billion people suffer from micro-nutrient deficiency and 600 million more people are obese. - Associated Press