| Author (Person) | Carstens, Karen |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.10, No.27, 22.7.04 |
| Publication Date | 22/07/2004 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Karen Carstens Date: 22/07/04 ROBERT Madelin has expressed surprise after retailers raised the red flag over likely European Commission proposals that they claimed could affect their bottom lines. The head of the Commission's health and consumer protection directorate, which is aiming to update an outmoded nutrition labelling law by the end of this year, said the food industry has been supportive of an ongoing dialogue on how to combat Europe's obesity epidemic. But Madelin angered retailers earlier this month at a London conference when he suggested companies should spend more money on "good nutrition activities". They should meet "all other interested parties" to draw up benchmarks "for their healthy eating campaigns". They should also allow "non-profit interested parties to verify that the promised private actions really are taking place". A coalition of UK food retailers was alarmed at the comments. "We have become very concerned that, all of a sudden, policymakers are wanting to start with the lowest common denominator," said Richard Ali, director of food policy for the British Retail Consortium. "To us it's regulatory creep, increasing the burden on business," he added. But Madelin said his comments were simply "an attempt to frame some of the issues we think should be addressed" and not a bold "policy statement" in an ongoing debate. "We want to move towards something more like 'stakeholder governance' versus more regulations - it's not a question of 'either/or'." Madelin said such notions were not new and were in line with the EU's 2001 Governance White Paper. He said many European food processing and retail companies already practised such stakeholder governance with watch committees composed of academics, nutritionists, local governors and consumers judging their performance. "There are companies out there who do even more than I'm suggesting now is desirable," he said, adding that the Netherlands and Germany have such nutrition awareness activities at national level. "There is a lot of best practice out there, but it's never been put together. We need to add it all up and see whether there is a genuine recipe. "There are quite a lot of exciting experiments." One such experiment is about to be launched by UK-based supermarket chain Tesco, which will put 'traffic light' labels on the front of food products in its stores. A 'red light' will be put on a food product high in fat, sugar or salt, while healthier options would get a 'green light'. "Nobody wants to be unhealthy - it's about whether you have the right motivation and empowerment," Madelin said. |
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