International Food & Beverage Alliance commits to phase out trans fats

May 18th, 2016

In a letter to World Health Organization Director-General Dr Chan, the International Food & Beverage Alliance (IFBA) makes a new commitment to phase out industrially produced trans fat from their product portfolios worldwide by the end of 2018.

With this initiative the eleven members of the IFBA - The Coca-Cola Company, Ferrero, General Mills, Grupo Bimbo, Kellogg, Mars, McDonald’s, Mondelēz  International, Nestlé,  PepsiCo and Unilever –  build on their 2008 commitment, that was reinforced in 2014, to help people eat healthy balanced diets by means of innovation and product creation. The commitment is made in support of the recommendation and efforts of the WHO, governments and the public healthy community to reduce the global intake of industrially produced trans fats.

The IFBA calls on the entire food industry to join them in this effort, and asks for cooperation of all stakeholders to help achieve the complex goal of reducing trans fat intake for all population groups.

Read the letter to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan here. 

Successful product innovation with Dutch Choices criteria

May 2nd, 2016

Recent study results by the Dutch Choices Foundation IKB demonstrate that the nutritional composition of many logo bearing products within both basic food products and non-basic food products, has significantly improved over time. The product group that demonstrates the greatest impact of the Choices logo is margarines. Compared to 2006, the average amount of salt in margarines with the Choices logo has been reduced by 75%.

The impact of the Choices logo can also be seen in other product groups. For instance in water-based sauces: the average amount of salt and of added sugar has been reduced by 27% and 35%, respectively. The energy level decreased with 25% while the number of products in this category that comply with the criteria substantially increased. In many other product groups the salt level has been reduced significantly: for example in bread products with 14%, in emulsified sauces with 9%, in soups with 5% and in cookies with 15%.

Processed meat products show a decrease of saturated fat of almost 25%, milk-based beverages of 49%. The trans fatty acid content of cookies was even almost fully eliminated with an average reduction of 75%.

The Dutch Choices Foundation carried out this analysis to study the impact of the Choices criteria on product innovation over the past 10 years. To what extent do Dutch food producers and retailers innovate their products after having obtained the logo, as a result of tightening of the criteria? The Choices criteria are revised every four years. In this study only data of products that already carried the Choices logo was used, thus product improvement that took place to qualify for the criteria when entering the programme was not taken into account. The study of Ellis Vyth et al. (2010) describes the impact on food products to qualify for the Choices logo. Combined with the preliminary results of this studies, we conclude that the Choices criteria have greatly impacted food product innovation.

Read the full preliminary report (PDF) here, or contact the Dutch Choices secretariat for more information. 

Positive logo session at European Obesity Summit

April 26th, 2016

At 1 June the European Obesity Summit takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden. Together with positive logo organisations Keyhole and Heart logo, Choices will host a scientific session at this event. The three organisations, that are currently present in twelve European countries, will share their experiences and the impact of positive front-of-pack labelling in Europe. New data about the impact of the programmes on food product improvement will be presented. WHO Europe’s nutrition director João Breda will share his conclusions and fuel the debate.

Make sure to visit us at the summit!

Time and place: 1 June 10.30 – 12.30h, European Obesity Summit, Gothenburg, Swedish Exhibition and Congress Centre, Hall F4 and F5.