In the wake of State Comptroller Joseph Shapira's statement yesterday that the government is failing its duty to guarantee food security for Israel's people and has abandoned consumers, the updated cost of the Ministry of Health's nutrition recommendation costs a family of five NIS 4,500 a month, and its nutrition recommendation for an elderly couple costs NIS 1,950 a month.
The current minimum wage is a gross NIS 4,100, and will rise to NIS 4,300 in October. This means that a family with two breadwinners earning the minimum wage spends over half their income on food, if they eat on the basis of the Ministry of Health nutritional recommendations. In practice, such families do not eat on the basis of the nutritional recommendations, and are malnourished. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the average gross national salary was NIS 9,447 in June.
The daily nutritional recommendations for a family of five (parents plus three children) is bread or pasta for carbohydrates; five tomatoes, five cucumbers, five carrots, three zucchini, and three onions for vegetables; five apples, five oranges, three bananas, a pomegranate, and half a watermelon for fruit; one liter of milk, three packets of cheese, and seven containers of white cheese or yogurt or puddings for dairy; and 450 grams of fish, 200 grams of meat, and 500 grams of legumes for protein. This costs NIS 150 a day.
For daily nutritional recommendations for an elderly couple is five pita breads, five potatoes, and 200 grams of corn for carbohydrates; four tomatoes, two cucumbers, one carrot, and one onion for vegetables; three apples, two bananas, and an orange for fruits; a packet of cheese and three containers of white cheese or yogurt or puddings for dairy; and 300 grams of chicken, 400 grams of peas, and two or three eggs for protein. This costs NIS 62.50 a day.
The Ministry of Health has updated its 2008 nutritional recommendations to improve their health components. It advises putting price controls on whole wheat bread instead of the standard loaf of white bread, but other ministries oppose the measure on the grounds that price controls are ineffective.
"In the current circumstances, not only is the price of whole wheat bread higher, but we cross subsidize price controlled bread. In other words, due to the low price of price controlled bread, bakeries raise the price of whole wheat bread. This the impression we get from conversations with bakeries," a top Ministry of Health official told "Globes".
The official added that the Ministry of Health was initiating two measures. One is to label bread by three criteria: 100% whole wheat, low sodium (less than 400 mg sodium), and less than 250 calories per 100 grams. The second measure is to enrich flour with folic acid to prevent nervous system disorders in fetuses.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 13, 2012
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