Fat of the Land Confronts the EU Industry and Groups Offer Obesity Strategy

By Paul Meller

Europe’s food industry and consumer groups were submitting ideas to the European Union on Thursday on how to confront obesity, urging clear labeling of nutritional hazards and warning against aggressive marketing to children, but also allowing food producers to regulate themselves.

Food companies, supermarket chains and consumer groups were expected to present their ideas on handling a weight problem that, according to all involved, is becoming as serious in Europe as it is in the United States.

The Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the EU, known by its French acronym CIAA, said it would recommend improving the labeling of foods, setting clear standards for advertising food, especially to children, and working with public authorities and consumer groups on nutritional education.

“In a number of countries, including France, there is no such education,” Jean Martin, president of the confederation and an executive at the British-Dutch conglomerate Unilever, said. “Equipping consumers, and especially parents, with proper information about nutrition will make a powerful contribution” to reducing obesity, he said.

The confederation, which includes some of the world’s largest food and beverage companies is to propose donating money to scientific research on obesity.

“Unfortunately, the European Union is catching up with the United States. We have to be more scientific about how we tackle obesity,” Martin said.

Advertising aimed at children should follow precise guidelines, the proposal says. “Marketing directed toward children should not create a sense of urgency, for example, by using words such as ‘now’ and ‘only.’” It should not encourage children to pester their parents to get them the foods or treats promoted, the proposal adds.

Consumer groups expressed uneasiness with the self-regulatory nature of the recommendations, but said they were willing to give it a chance.

“Ideally, we’d like a ban on advertising food and drinks to children,” said Barbara Gallani, a food policy adviser at the EU- linked European Consumers’ Organization, known by its French initials BEUC.

The group, however, is prepared to let the food and drinks industry try to regulate itself. Self-regulation is also the preferred course of action of Europe’s commissioner for health and consumer protection, Markos Kyprianou.

Gallani said her group will initially push for voluntary restrictions on ads for products with high fat, sugar and salt content that are aimed at children.

Obesity could be reduced if food and beverage companies not only put detailed nutritional information on the back of products, but also simpler descriptions on the front, Gallani said.

“Labeling is not very precise at the moment. Some products don’t even have the basic information, such as the amount of protein, carbohydrate and fat listed,” she said.

Cookies in the house brand of a Belgian supermarket gave no information at all to shoppers, she said. A branded ready-to-eat meal, also bought in Belgium, included a short list of the protein, carbohydrate and fat content, but not the amounts of sugar, salt, saturated fat and transfatty acids.

Consumers need that information to make healthy choices, Gallani said. Also, the ready-to-eat meal gave nutritional values for a 100- gram, or 3.5-ounce portion, but not for the serving in the package.

Separately, the European Commission is also reviewing laws on food labeling, which it plans to update by the end of next year.