AQW 555/22-27 Written question to the Minister of Health
To ask the Minister of Health (i) for his assessment of healthy eating habits in Northern Ireland; and (ii) to detail any current or proposed cross-departmental schemes to make healthy food cheaper and more easily accessible for households.
Asked by Claire Sugden MLA on 25 May 2022
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 25 May 2022
- Answer due by
- 13 June 2022
- Answered
- 1 June 20227 days after tabling
- Department
- Department of Health
- Priority question
- No
Answer
(i) The 2020/21 Health Survey asked “in general, would you say that your eating habits are?”. Survey results showed that 61% of responders (aged 16+) assessed their healthy eating habits as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
| Response | 2020/21 | 95% confidence intervals |
| Very good | 19% | 16.6 to 20.7 |
| Good | 42% | 39.1 to 44.3 |
| Fair | 29% | 26.5 to 31.2 |
| Bad | 9% | 7.5 to 10.4 |
| Very bad | 2% | 1.2 to 2.6 |
However, the latest data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) for Northern Ireland https://www.food.gov.uk/research/national-diet-and-nutrition-survey/national-diet-and-nutrition-survey-ndns-report-for-northern-ireland (2012/13 – 2016/17) showed that:
the consumption of 5 A Day fruit and vegetable portions was below the recommendation in all age/sex groups;
the average consumption of fruit and vegetables for children aged 11 to 18 years in Northern Ireland was 2.5 portions per day with 94% not meeting the 5 A Day recommendation; and
on average adults aged 19 to 64 years consumed 3.4 portions per day and adults aged 65 years and over consumed 3.3 portions per day with around 80% not meeting the 5 A Day recommendation.
Recent take home food and drink purchasing data provided by Kantar FMCG Purchase Panel (https://www.food.gov.uk/research/wider-consumer-interests/northern-ireland-take-home-food-and-drink-purchases-2016-2019-2020) demonstrates there was an increase in energy (kcal), total sugars (g), total fat (g) and saturated fat (g) purchased per person per day during 2020, compared to a decrease from 2016 to 2019
(ii) My Department is currently working with stakeholders to develop a new obesity strategy to follow on from the current ‘A Fitter Future For All 2012-2022’ obesity prevention strategic framework. We also continue to work with the Department of Communities on food poverty and Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs on the new Northern Ireland Food Strategy Framework which has a principal to increase access and affordability to healthy nutritious food.