Central Australia airs fresh food worries

The Federal Government is canvassing opinion in communities across the country about the implementation of the nation's first food plan.

Richard Souness from the Department of Agriculture says Alice Springs was one of 35 locations selected because of the challenges of supplying people a long way from conventional markets.

He says people in central Australia have concerns about health and nutrition, as well as food security and sustainability of the food supply.

"People were talking about mainly the problems of fresh food," he said.

"Fruit and vegetables particularly they talked about. Talked about attempts to try and encourage people to have their own gardens even and grow fruit and vegetables themselves.

"That they had been successful at times but at other times they don't work.

"There were quite strong thoughts about the need to have a better supply of fresh fruit and veg into the region.

"People were concerned about having an adequate and a healthy food supply.

"Continuously they talked about interruptions of food supply into Alice Springs and the area at times, depending on floods and mishaps in the road and the rail supply."

Source: ABC News, 9 August 2012