Cut salt, sugar, fat, food giants warned

guido · Site Admin Joined: Oct 18, 2004 Posts: 376 Location: Italy

GENEVA - Efforts so far by the food and drink industry to improve the nutritional value of their products to fight childhood obesity are simply not good enough, the World Health Organization said last week.

Industry giants such as Kraft Foods Inc., Nestle SA and Unilever - makers of candy bars, frozen pizzas, ice cream and other prepared foods - have reduced the salt, sugar and fat content of some products.

They have also pledged to change some of their advertising and marketing practices.

But it's not good enough, the WHO said.

"The industry's efforts are commendable, but inadequate. They are only a drop in the ocean," Colin Tukuitonga, who oversees the WHO's global strategy on diet and physical activity, said before a meeting with representatives of the food and soft drink industry.

Recently, Nestle cut the fat in its Stouffer's Hot Pockets, also known as Maggi Hot Pockets, and the salt, fat and sugar in its Shredded Wheat cereal; Unilever is reducing salt in its Knorr soups, and has lowered the sugar content in Lipton Ice Tea.

"These are selected companies doing one-off changes," Tukuitonga said. "They are making a genuine effort ... but we need an industry-wide approach."

The WHO thinks profound changes in the way food is processed and marketed are essential to turning the tide of the growing obesity epidemic, which is predicted to cause millions of people worldwide to suffer early death or disability.

Officials want companies to make additional commitments or set specific targets.

"We are already doing a lot on a company level," said Nina Backes, spokeswoman at Nestle.

"I am not aware that we will make a specific commitment toward the WHO."

Backes said Nestle has cut fat, salt and sugar in some 700 products in recent years and changed its labeling policy to provide additional information to the consumer.

Tukuitonga said he hoped the food industry would agree voluntarily on some self-imposed actions and targets," particularly for processed foods.

"We are a long way from what we consider healthy foods," he said.

He said guidelines by WHO and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization recommend, for instance, that each adult consume no more than 5-6 grams of salt per day. Consumption of salt around the world varies greatly, but the global average is at least double the recommended amount, officials say.

Neville Rigby of the International Obesity Task Force, a network of obesity scientists and policy experts, lauded some companies for making "pretty strong statements," but said it was hard to monitor them.

Kraft, for example, has pledged to reduce television commercials for snacks during prime time for children.

Rigby said WHO must aim to align food industry interests with its fight against child obesity.

"It is all about replacing junk food with healthy food ... and the industry stands to make a lot of money from that," he said.

Many countries already have anti-obesity drives.

France has banned carbonated drinks and junk-food vending machines from schools, and Norway's nutrition council has recommended a complete ban on marketing junk food to children.

About half a million children in Europe are suffering health problems of the middle-aged, such as high blood pressure and raised cholesterol because they are too fat, according to new estimates by the obesity task force.
_________________
In vino veritas!

paulamathers · Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:05 pm Post subject:

if we are being warned so much about not eating salt/suagr/fat etc, then why dont fast food places also cut down on the amounts they have in their foods? that would help a lot because people do eat at fast food places a lot and would definately help with obesity and other problems such as heart problems and diabetes. it cant be just a few that are doing it, because the lower fat/salt/suagr produce tend to be the more expensive ones, and therefore the lower income families wont be able to afford them as much and tend to go for the foods that are higher in all of these because of the price. all the food agencies have to work together to make it work.