We all know, pretty much, what we should be eating.
But for many in Colorado, from cafeteria-dining school kids and the poor to people in rural areas, the problem can be how to get healthy food.
Gov. Bill Ritter on Wednesday signed into law a measure that will create a council of experts to help with that.
The 13-member Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council, which is expected to begin meeting late this year, will set statewide goals for healthy-food access, as well as the development of a robust, resilient food system.
The council, whose members have not been chosen, will pass on advice to joint legislative committees such as agriculture, education and health, said Tracy Boyle, spokeswoman for the nonprofit LiveWell Colorado, a backer of legislation that created the council.
Last year, as LiveWell was compiling food-policy initiatives, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came out with its own recommendations to help combat obesity and make Americans healthier.
One of the CDC’s suggestions sounded familiar to those at LiveWell: States should promote food-system councils.
“It was almost providential,” said Lonna Lindsay, LiveWell’s vice president of policy. “Our food system, from producers to processors to wholesalers to retailers, crosses so many people, private as well as governmental.
“All these groups have their own objectives and goals and missions, which in many cases are not coordinated and are even working at cross-purposes.”
The advisory council will first get those groups together.
Council members will include one representative each from the state Departments of Human Services, Public Health and Environment, Agriculture and Education, along with nine members, appointed by the governor, from private industry. Two will have a background in nutrition and health, three in agriculture, two will be food wholesalers and retailers, one will work with the hungry and one will have expertise in economic development.
This is the first statewide group of its kind in Colorado, but there are a handful in other states, Lindsay said.
“This is a trend as the local-food movement is sweeping the nation,” she said.
Karen Auge: 303-954-1733 or kauge@denverpost.com
