Food supply, nutrition and trade policy: reversal of an import ban on turkey tails

Abstract

Turkey tails are a cheap, fatty meat, imported into many developing countries. Government of Samoa implemented an import ban on turkey tails in 2007 as part of its efforts to reduce noncommunicable diseases in the country. (1) population of Samoa has some of the highest rates of noncommunicable diseases in the world: in 2013, diabetes prevalence was 20% among adults and prevalence was 53% among men and 77% among women. (2) Dietary change associated with the nutrition transition--characterized by a shift from traditional diets high in cereal and fibre to diets higher in processed foods, sugars, fat and animal-source food--has been a significant contributor to the increase in prevalence of such diseases. In Samoa, as in many other low- and middle-income countries, trade liberalization and policies to promote exports have contributed to reducing the availability of traditional staples and increasing the availability of foods associated with the nutrition transition. (3) ban on turkey tails contributed to shifting consumption away from fatty meats: in a study conducted by the Samoan ministry of health in 2008, just under half of respondents reported that they consumed other cheap meats such as chicken, sausage or mutton instead of turkey tails, while about a quarter said they now ate lower-fat meat or seafood; only a few reported eating less meat overall as the result of the ban. (1) Import data did not suggest a clear substitution of turkey tails with other fatty meats, including chicken, lamb or beef cuts. (1) Government of Samoa removed its ban on turkey tails as part of its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2011. removal of the ban illustrated the potential for international trade agreements to stifle innovation in nutrition policy-making through constraining policy space. (4) Concerns have been raised globally regarding the impact of trade agreements on health and nutrition through both the direct impact of trade in unhealthy foods and the constraints on adopting best-practice nutrition policy interventions. (5) In this paper, we examine the rationale for the removal of the turkey tails ban as part of Samoa's accession to the WTO as well as Samoa's response to this removal. We also consider the opportunity for policy learning--regarding the design of food policy for the prevention of noncommunicable diseases--for other low- and middle-income countries facing a rising burden of diet-related such diseases. working party overseeing Samoa's accession to the WTO raised two main concerns about the ban related to issues at the heart of WTO and other trade agreements. (6) Although these concerns reflect key elements of WTO law, the fact that the issues were raised during an accession process rather than a formal dispute means that the removal of the ban does not constitute a formal application of WTO law under any specific agreement(s). Nevertheless, the concerns raised are helpful in understanding important considerations in the design of public health nutrition regulation in relation to trade law, and in particular, to the general agreement on tariffs and trade and the agreement on technical barriers to trade. first concern was the effectiveness of the ban in improving diets and reducing noncommunicable diseases, as other WTO members questioned the prohibition of a single food item in order to address the [...] complex problem of obesity (6). This concern refers to the imperative to use the least traderestrictive measure needed to achieve a policy objective, also called the necessity test. second concern referred to the principle of non-discrimination: The import ban [...] was [...] discriminatory, as there are many high-fat foods, imported and domestic, still available for purchase in Samoa. (6) A key issue here is the availability of like products, a trade term for similar commodities available in the market, which were not subject to the ban. …