By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A CABINET minister yesterday pledged to "stop poisoning our people" by totally changing the Government's 'breadbasket' food line-up in time for the 2018-2019 Budget year.

Dr Duane Sands, minister of health, told Tribune Business that the Minnis administration planned to align tax and economic policies with the Bahamas' dietary health needs for the first time since the 1970s.

He revealed that the current 'breadbasket' contents will "probably not exist for too much longer", as the Government plans to switch-out many existing foods in favour of products that will encourage healthy eating.

Dr Sands said the concept of "giving people a bellyful" through imposing price controls on basic food 'staples' had contributed directly to the Bahamas' health crisis, particularly its struggles with non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

By keeping prices on products such as corn beef and sugar artificially low through such regulation, the Minister argued that government policy had effectively encouraged Bahamians to "commit a form of dietary suicide and homicide".

He disclosed that "a fairly comprehensive" consultation process, involving nutritionists, doctors and the food retail/wholesale industry, has been ongoing in a bid to develop a new 'breadbasket' food list that could be approved by Cabinet in time for the new fiscal year. "We have been engaged in a fairly comprehensive process to look at the items in the 'breadbasket'," Dr Sands told Tribune Business. "The 'breadbasket' was created in the 1970s. The concept then was 'give people a bellyful', but those things on the 'breadbasket' have absolutely nothing to do with healthy eating.

"Some of the biggest culprits with respect to hypertension, diabetes and ill-health are in that 'breadbasket'. The fact is we have made it easier to get sick through the things on that breadbasket [list], and suffer the worst healthcare indicators in the region and, sometimes, the world."

Dr Sands' revelations place the Prime Minister's renewed pledge to remove Value-Added Tax (VAT) from 'breadbasket' items in a slightly different context, since this 'tax break' will seemingly now combine with price controls to incentivise improved dietary health and eating habits by reducing the cost of such foods.

"If we want to feed the narrative that we remove VAT from the existing 'breadbasket', then unwittingly what we could do is worsen the indicators and demographics that we see in the Bahamas," the Minister of Health told Tribune Business.

"The idea is that if we say we want to make easier for families to eat healthy, maybe we ought to make sure what is in the breadbasket is healthy, and what is in the breadbasket currently is not healthy. I say that without fear of contradiction.

"Some of the items in the 'breadbasket' add significantly to the levels of diabetes, hypertension and obesity we have in the Bahamas."

The Government's plans were yesterday given full backing by Super Value's owner, Rupert Roberts, who in referring to Dr Hubert Minnis's VAT elimination plan, said: "The breadbasket items of today are not going to be breadbasket items then.

"We support this programme. For 47 years previous governments have been promoting poison, and the Government is now going to be promoting health. This whole thing is going right, turning it upside down and going the way it should have been going for 50 years."

Mr Roberts pointed to Super Value's price-controlled costs for corn beef and sugar, which stand at $1.98 and $1.99, respectively. He added that both were sold at much higher prices at Wal-Mart in the US, with the former, in particular, costing consumers around $5.

These were among the current 'breadbasket' foods identified by Dr Sands as being "in the crosshairs" for removal. "Let's look at something as simple as sugar," he told Tribune Business. "Sugar shouldn't be given a free pass, and we should not be subsidising poison for our people. It is one the things recommended to be taken off the breadbasket.

"The purpose is not only a bellyful but a healthy breadbasket, so to speak," the Minister added. "It is quite possible that bread should not be on the list, but that's a different decision - certainly not bread with bleached flour.

"When we complete this process Mr Roberts' comments will come to life. What exists now [on the breadbasket] list will probably not exist too much longer. Then we need some other approaches to find solutions to the problem.

"High fructose corn syrup should not be so cheap that it's easy to kill yourself with it. Bahamians are committing a form of dietary suicide and homicide with their incredible proclivity for sugar, grease, fat and other carbohydrates."

Dr Sands said consultation with private sector and medical industry stakeholders over the proposed 'breadbasket' item reforms had been ongoing for "several months".

"We have engaged a number of stakeholders in order to get their input for the proposed amendments to the 'breadbasket'," he added. "The next step is we will convene a meeting with price control and look at the draft recommendations, and then finalise the recommendations to be presented to Cabinet for ratification of a new breadbasket list....

"We believe that while we haven't reached every single person, we have had broad consultation and plan to continue that process prior to making final recommendations that have to be vetted, considered and approved. Then we will approach the public and say: 'This is what the breadbasket will look like moving forward'.

"It will be good if we can complete this process in time to incorporate the changes for the 2018-2019 Budget." This timeline aligns with the one outlined by the Prime Minister for the removal of VAT from the 'breadbasket' list.

Dr Sands, meanwhile, said the 'breadbasket' changes would not be made "in isolation" of the economic impact, hence the prolonged consultation with the Bahamian food retail and wholesale industry.

Pointing to what could have become one unintended consequence, the Minister said the Government had initially looked to introduce fresh fruit into the 'breadbasket' list, only to discover that this would impose a significant stocking and supply cost on the private sector.

"What we don't want to do is create a breadbasket of items that will not be stocked because it is economically non-viable for merchants to do so," Dr Sands told Tribune Business.

"We have to look at what we intend to do, and the unintended consequences of any recommendations and decisions... We want to be mindful of the impact of every single proposed change on the economy. Each decision that is made changes the dynamic in terms of what it costs to stock and sell rice, what it costs to stock and sell corn beef."

He added: "We want to listen to the community and consult with industry. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. If you take something like chicken; chicken's a staple in the Bahamas.

"If we apply price controls to chicken the inadvertent impact is we could make fast food even cheaper. While the intention was to get people to eat healthy, you've just made it less expensive for people to eat unhealthy food. We have to look at what we intend to do and the unintended consequences of any recommendations and decisions."

The Prime Minister's plan to exempt 'breadbasket' items from VAT, whether it is the current or proposed food items, creates several consequences by itself (see other article on Page 1B).

And many in the private sector would argue that price controls should be eliminated completely, given that they amount to over-regulation that distorts market forces and force retailers to increase the cost of non-controlled items to compensate for the losses on these products.

The proposed 'breadbasket' overhaul will also force Bahamian consumers to change long-established shopping habits and buying patterns, thereby creating something of a 'cultural' shock.

The move is also likely to spark charges that the Government is disenfranchising lower income and middle class Bahamians by removing price controls from long-established 'breadbasket' staples, further increasing their living costs and reducing spending power.

Dr Sands acknowledged that push back is anticipate and, taking corn beef as an example, said: "It doesn't mean it won't be available, but the recommendations ought to be that it doesn't enjoy the status it currently enjoys.

"We don't for one minute believe that any proposed changes will be without controversy. We're prepared to educate the public on the rationale for the proposed changes, and expect there will be some opposition even if well-intentioned.

"Look at the experience in New York with the moratorium on sugary drinks. People will defend their right to kill themselves. I know that sounds terrible, but that's what it is."