TABLE 4.

Responsibilities of our food system for positioning processed foods in the healthy diet

Food system component	Responsibilities
Agriculture and food scientists	Develop new agriculture procedures for enhancing food quality and evaluating food safety
	Invent new technologies for increasing accessibility to healthy processed foods
Food industry	Develop new technologies for food preservation and enhancing food quality
	Maintain food quality and safety standards
	Provide affordable, accessible, healthy processed foods
	Develop price structures for healthy foods to reduce food insecurity
	Develop and support effective labeling or branding of foods
	Educate the public in processing techniques
	Define and support food processing research
	Develop convenient, tasty alternatives for perishable foods
Grocers, restaurants, food services	Provide healthy, tasty, low-cost processed food menu alternatives
	Create labeling, branding, and marketing strategies to inform consumers
	Educate consumer palates for fresh-tasting processed food items
	Inform consumers about preparation techniques
Health care professionals	Communicate healthy uses of processed foods
	Incorporate healthy processed foods into counseling and educational tools
	Develop partnerships with the food industry to meet patient needs
The media	Create branding or images of processed foods in healthy meals
	Provide information on placing processed foods into a healthy diet pattern or meal
	Provide methods for food purchasing and preparation with the use of healthy processed foods
Government	Define the contribution of processed and nonprocessed foods in a healthy food pattern (eg, MyPlate)
	Show the cost-effectiveness and convenience of incorporating processed foods into the diet pattern
	Provide examples of using processed foods in diet patterns for subpopulations
	Provide funding for developing new food technologies and for testing the nutrition and health effects of foods and food products
Nutrition and public health scientists	Expand telecommunications technologies and social media to educate consumers regarding healthy processed food choices
	Monitor the impact of processed foods on the population’s nutrition and health
	Investigate the impact of processed food consumption on biomarkers of health and disease
Consumers	Demand information on food processing and health
	Provide feedback to the food industry and scientists about the adequacy of our food system
	Encourage public and private partnerships to enhance the quality of our food supply and to reduce food waste