Abstract
Food-EPI (Healthy Food Environment Policy Index) was recently conducted for the fourth time in Aotearoa New Zealand to benchmark government policies influencing food environments against international best practice. Some policies were comparable with international best practice, but New Zealand falls short in many areas including for healthy food and drinks in all schools, fiscal policies influencing food costs, and restricting marketing of unhealthy foods that children see.
Sixty experts prioritised the need for a comprehensive multi-sector food systems strategy and for people to have sufficient income to make healthy food choices with autonomy. Five policy actions and five infrastructure support actions were prioritised for immediate action. A mandatory approach needs to be adopted in many policy areas, such as marketing of unhealthy food to children and healthy food policies in schools, and a new national nutrition survey is urgently needed.