South Pacific Island Aims To Ban Imported Junk Food To Improve Citizens' Health

The South Pacific island Torba Province in the Republic of Vanuatu is making moves to create a healthier lifestyle for its citizens with the goal of putting a halt to imported junk food.

Last week, community leader and head of the local tourism council Father Luc Dini worked with local chefs and tourism bungalows to start serving guests only locally grown, organic food, The Guardian reported.

Over the next two years, the plan is to eventually ban all imported food and become the first organic province in Vanuatu.

"At the moment we have an infiltration of junk food from overseas," Dini told The Guardian, with rice, sweets, tinned fish, and biscuits being the most popular imported foods.

"It is easy to boil noodles or rice, but they have almost no nutritional value and there is no need to eat imported food when we have so much local food grown organically on our islands."

Some of the island's locally grown or sourced food includes fish, crabs, shellfish, taro, yams, paw paw, and pineapple, Dini said. Whether or not the ban will include alcohol has yet to be decided.

"If you really want to live on a paradise of your own, then you should make do with what you have and try and live with nature," Dini said.