💾 Archived View for gmi.noulin.net › mobileNews › 3397.gmi captured on 2023-06-14 at 16:29:01. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-01-29)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
2011-09-21 10:30:41
The food and beverage industry held a meeting on the sidelines of a health
conference at the U.N. Photo by Flickr user mhaithaca.
NEW YORK | Food and beverage companies that make fatty, sugary products tend to
not be viewed kindly by public health workers on the front lines, locked in an
unending battle with obesity and its related diseases.
But the food industry can be a powerful partner too, if companies are willing
to improve the content of products or change advertising approaches, as
governments hoping to stem the tide of growing waistlines have found.
"It's not the responsibility of the food and beverage industry alone to solve
these problems," said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius at an event hosted by the International Food and Beverage Alliance in
New York this week on the sidelines of high-level U.N. meetings on
non-communicable diseases. "But we can't solve them without you."
Coke and Pepsi products sat side-by-side on tables at the meeting, a visual
representation of the alliance, which unites 10 major companies -- and
sometimes competitors -- Kraft, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nestle, Mars,
General Mills, Kellogg's, Ferrero and Bimbo.
In the audience was Andrew Lansley, secretary of state for health for the
United Kingdom, which has partnered with private companies to voluntarily
reduce salt content and eliminate trans fats through its oft-cited Health
Responsibility Deal created this year.
"We can deliver more progress more quickly through a voluntary approach than we
could through a regulatory and legislative approach," he said. "If we can't, if
there is resistance then we have to take regulative approaches but actually the
evidence is if we engage in a partnership approach we can make more progress."
Across the street at the U.N., agency chief Ban Ki-moon had harsher words for
companies that profit from the sale of junk food, especially those that market
to children.
"I depend on our friends in industry to do what is right," he pleaded. "There
is a well-documented and shameful history of certain players in industry who
ignored the science -- sometimes even their own research -- and put public
health at risk to protect their own profits."
But Ban also credited the biggest names in the industry with making strides to
do the right thing.
The International Food and Beverage Alliance is hoping to build its reputation
as a group of companies that has taken on that responsibility, setting goals in
reformulating products to be healthier, providing clear nutritional
information, regulating advertising of food and beverages to children and
promoting physical activity. But it hasn't been an easy road to get everyone
involved. said senior vice president of global health and agriculture for
PepsiCo, Derek Yach.
"The companies, many were initially reluctant to come on because they were
going into new territory...many were fearful," he said, and the often
contentious tone of the industry vs. government debate doesn't help.
He said thousands of products have been reformulated by companies in the
alliance and gains have already been made in cutting trans fats and salt levels
in particular. PepsiCo is on track to meet a goal of cutting 25 percent of salt
from its products by 2015. But the lack of self regulation by smaller or
mid-level food companies continues to be of concern. Similarly, talk of
potential global regulation or targets for food content in low-and-middle
income country markets raises product concerns.
While different companies have different issues with regulation, the idea of a
more uniform set of industry rules appeals to some.
"It's very easy to have laws on the books that never translate into laws on the
street," Yach said. "Those that tend to abide by the laws on the books [in the
food industry] tend to be multi-nationals and a few leading companies which
basically will lead us to an unlevel playing ground."
Dr. Julio Frenk, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, argued it is also
in companies best interest to go through this process and develop foods and
beverages that taste good but are healthful, since the market for these types
of products is expanding.
"There is an enormous space here for innovation to generate a competitive
advantage to industries that are able to get ahead of the game," Frenk said.
But he also emphasized governments should not rely on industry to take all
these steps by themselves, and that some standard of regulation and good
stewardship by governments will always be key in this movement.
As the draft agreement was formed for the U.N. non-communicable disease summit
there was discussion of including a global salt reduction target and other food
goals, but the item was eventually stripped from the document. With no hard
targets for food or beverage content changes in the agreement, member
governments and industry players will be left to chart their own course
forward.