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Speaker 1: A new report that is found as virtually impossible apparently

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Speaker 1: for beneficiary families to eat healthy food. It's the inflation argument,

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Speaker 1: of course, over the past six years. The question is

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Speaker 1: what to do with anything at Professor of Nutrition, Child

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Speaker 1: Poverty Action Group spokesperson A Lane Rush is with us. Elaine.

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Speaker 1: Very good morning to you, Good morning, very good news.

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Speaker 1: Is that this report correct me if I'm wrong as

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Speaker 1: retrospective and the cost of food is now coming down.

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Speaker 2: It's not coming down, it's just rising more slowly.

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Speaker 1: Well, the last figure was actually down.

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Speaker 2: Well, yes, but the mount down is very small on

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Speaker 2: some foods and it depends what you're looking at at

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Speaker 2: the food basket is at work, Yeah, that's true to

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Speaker 2: We selected from these stats New Zealand Food Basket the

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Speaker 2: healthier foods that were at budget prices and examined how

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Speaker 2: they had changed over the years.

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Speaker 1: But I'm wondering if, because your report is retrospective over

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Speaker 1: the last six years, you're missing the boats lightly. Tomatoes,

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Speaker 1: cheese and potatoes are down sixteen percent, fru and vegetables generally, meat,

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Speaker 1: poultry and fisher falling sixteen point one percent.

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't think we're the ones missing the boat.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of children missing the boat at the moment,

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Speaker 2: and the pressure on food banks and other places is

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Speaker 2: increasing greatly. And it's not just the poor as you say,

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Speaker 2: it's middle class too. Because of the increasing unemployment, more

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Speaker 2: and more people are finding it harder to make ends

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Speaker 2: meat because it's not just food that is part of

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Speaker 2: the cost, it's accommodation and electricity and all those other things.

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Speaker 1: So does true. What do we do about it?

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Speaker 2: Though? I think in New Zealand we need to have

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Speaker 2: a cohesive food strategy, not just driven by politicians, but

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Speaker 2: driven by business people and everyone involved in the food industry,

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Speaker 2: which basically is everyone in New Zealand. We need to

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Speaker 2: have sim system where we actually prioritize feeding New Zealand

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Speaker 2: as well first before sending the food overseas, and think

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Speaker 2: very carefully about foods that we're importing in such huge

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Speaker 2: quantities because they're actually failing to promote health in New Zealand.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so, but we make a living as a country

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Speaker 1: from selling things like food to the world. That's what

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Speaker 1: we do as a country.

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Speaker 2: Yes, but our living isn't conditions aren't that good in

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Speaker 2: New Zealand at the moment and particularly with impacts on

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Speaker 2: global supplies, most likely to get worse, particularly for food overseas.

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Speaker 2: Food is getting more expensive and climate change is making

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Speaker 2: a huge difference to where the food supplies go. For instance,

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Speaker 2: into China, now we're not exporting as much.

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Speaker 1: No, that's because they don't have any money, because they

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Speaker 1: handled COVID poorly and they didn't open the borders in time,

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Speaker 1: and their economies going backwards.

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Speaker 2: But it's one reason that the whole thing is incredibly complex,

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Speaker 2: and we've got to be very careful when systems are

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Speaker 2: changed that the change doesn't impact on other things and

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Speaker 2: actually make it worse.

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Speaker 1: I'm going Aline appreciate your time. Aline Russia is the

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Speaker 1: professor of nutrition at AUTO. For more from the Mic

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Speaker 1: Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks they'd be from

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