A helping hand towards a better diet

Teachers, parents and politicians try to influence the way we think about food, pushing us to choose some products over others. But to have a real effect on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus, they need support from the people who make the food.

The European Commission set out to win backing from the food industry for plans to cut the amount of sugar, salt and fat we eat by establishing a ‘platform for diet, physical activity and health’ - known as the obesity platform.

The platform offers an alternative to legislation by encouraging voluntary schemes from industry groups to change advertising and sales standards, or in some cases to alter food products themselves.

On 9 November, Markos Kyprianou, the European commissioner for health and consumer protection, presented the results so far at what was billed as a "name and praise" event.

Among those he praised, was the international fast food chain McDonald’s for introducing labels on all its products giving their calorie, protein, fat, salt and carbohydrate content in large letters; UNESDA - the European beverages association - for agreeing to stop advertising to children under the age of 12; food company Kraft for reducing advertising to the same age group and stopping advertising altogether to children under the age of six, and Unilever for reducing the salt and fat content of several bestselling products.

Kyprianou concluded that "these commitments are good examples of concrete and verifiable action undertaken by industry".

Alcohol manufacturers are now being asked to follow suit. The Commission announced last month that it will set up a new forum based on the obesity platform, this time to persuade Europeans to drink less.

The European Spirits Organisation (CEPS) is already reporting progress with its charter on responsible alcohol consumption, one of the first industry commitments made during Commission talks on developing an EU alcohol strategy.

The charter commits CEPS to making sure that 75% of its members’ advertising carries "responsible drinking" messages by 2010. It also involves CEPS in drink-drive campaigns and making sure minimum alcohol purchase laws are obeyed.

A first year progress report, published yesterday (22 November) reports drink-drive campaigns in France and Estonia and school education programmes in the Netherlands and the UK as some of the early signs that the charter is having an effect.

CEPS will discuss its charter with the alcohol forum when talks start in earnest next year.

Teachers, parents and politicians try to influence the way we think about food, pushing us to choose some products over others. But to have a real effect on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus, they need support from the people who make the food.