Choices session at the Global Public Health Conference

November 24th, 2014

In the scientific session organized by Choices at the Third World Conference on Public Health and Nutrition, 9-12 November at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, speakers gave an overview of the different front-of-pack labelling systems: the Chilean warning, the UK Traffic Light and Choices International. The key point in the discussion that followed was the preferred eating of unprocessed food. Some stressed that everyone had to cook with fresh foods instead of using processed foods. However, only focusing on unprocessed foods was seen as unrealistic in the current world. Choices has a broad scope as it is favouring fresh fruits and vegetables on the one hand, while on the other hand also highlights the healthiest or most responsible options of processed foods in each category.

If and how public health advocates and scientists could cooperate with the food industry was a hotly debated issue during different sessions of the conference that focused on promoting healthy and sustainable food. The various ways of cooperation between government, science and industry in the front-of-pack labelling initiatives presented during the Choices session were considered as a credible example.

The presentations can be found hereafter: 1) UK experiences and data on product improvements; 2) FrieslandCampina and Public Private Partnerships; 3) Law 20.606: Nutrient content of foods and their publicity/marketing Ministry of Health Chile; 4) Activities and Results of the Global Food Monitoring Group; 5) The Israeli Health Ministry dilemma over FOP labeling and salt reduction; 6) Choices Programme - experiences in Europe

Choices Breakfast Debate in the European Parliament

November 17th, 2014

On 4 November 2014 Choices organized its second annual stakeholder event. Welcoming more than forty representatives from knowledge institutes, governments, industry, NGOs and the press, this year’s edition took place in the European Parliament and was set up as a healthy breakfast debate. It offered participants the opportunity to try Choices-compliant food, while discussing the key role of European stakeholders in stimulating healthier food choices and the future of positive health logos in Europe and beyond. The event was hosted by Member of Parliament and former DG SANCO Commissioner Pavel Telička, while Clémence Ross, the new Choices Board President and former State Secretary of Health of the Netherlands, took the role of chairperson (see presentation). The other speakers were Dr. Masoud Dara (see presentation), Senior Advisor WHO Office at the European Union, and Dr. Léon Jansen (see presentation), Science Secretary of the Choices International Foundation. The event concluded with a vivid discussion on the role of industry, government and science in reformulation and consumer education to make healthier food choices. Everyone agreed that there is no magic bullet to stop the growth in the prevalence of overweight and obesity, but that only continued collaboration and learning from one another can improve the health of European citizens in the coming years. For the full report of the event, please click here. 

Nutrition standards, free trade and WTO

October 6th, 2014

Can you imagine that nutrition standards could be a barrier to trade? On Friday 3 October the WTO Secretariat organized a session on nutrition standards, to explore this relationship. Clémence Ross presented the Choices view: WTO can play a positive role in the fight against NCD and obesity by facilitating the international use of interpretive labelling. Such labelling should be based on voluntary nutrition standards that are internationally applicable and science based. Choices International wants to follow this path in cooperation with stakeholders who aim at making the healthy choice the easy choice.

The general opinion in the session was that interpretive labelling is there and is relevant. The discussion is about the best way to do it. Scientific substantiation, international coherence and stakeholder dialogue are the key words for implementation.

The audio of the event is available at: http://www.wto.org/audio/pf14_workshop20.mp3