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Cutting European Obesity- Food Companies Stepping up their Efforts

Woensdag 18 April 2007 20:19

BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- Facing the prospect of increased regulation in Europe, leading food companies Wednesday stepped up their voluntary efforts to curb obesity.
Seven companies - Coca Cola Co. (KO), Groupe Danone (DA), Nestle SA (NSRGY), PepsiCo Inc. (PEP), Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT),Kellogg Co. (K) and Unilever NV (UN) - signed on to a voluntary nutrition labeling scheme last year. The group now has expanded to 10, with Cadbury Schweppes PLC (CBRY.LN) joining Wednesday, according to the food industry lobby CIAA. Campbell Soup Co. (CPB), and Mars Inc. (MRS.XX) also have signed up since the launch.
The voluntary nutrition label system puts the item's calorie level on the front rather than the back of the package. Sugar, salt, fat and saturated fat levels as a percentage of daily needs are put on the back label. At present, European regulations don't require such information in food labels.
'We expect more of our members to follow suit in the near future,' said Jean Martin, the CIAA president. Europe's food and drink industry is playing an 'important catalyst function' in 'combating obesity by translating public policy goals into concrete action.'
The food industry's voluntary efforts come just as European authorities are considering toughening mandatory regulations. The European Parliament last year passed the first European Union-wide regulation on how food companies make claims for 'low fat' or 'high vitamin' products. Under the rules, for example, food companies will be required to provide the amount of sugar in 'low fat' yogurts or other diet foods.
Obesity is a huge problem on both sides of the Atlantic. The U.S.'s Deputy Secretary of Health, Alex Azar, said on a recent visit to Brussels that 130 million U.S. citizens are overweight and 60 million are obese. In the E.U., with a larger population, 204 million are overweight and 61.4 million obese. E.U. Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said obesity accounts for up to 7% of direct health care costs in the E.U.
In response - and to meet consumer demand - companies said Wednesday that they have taken dramatic action. The Union of European Beverages Associations said it has included labeling and nutrition information on its packages, providing low and no-calorie product versions and offering smaller sizes of its drinks. As a result, calorie content per liter has declined in the past two years, the association said Wednesday.
Food companies also are changing their menus. Cadbury Schweppes says it is increasing the number of its low-fat products - its Cadbury Highlights milk chocolate bar has only 150 calories per bar. Coca Cola said it quadrupled thenumber of its low-calorie drinks in 2006 and sales of these 'light' drinks are growing three times faster than regular drinks in Europe.
A key battleground is salt. E.U. regulators have suggested they eventually might consider limiting the amount of salt in foods, some company officials say. The manufacturers say they are voluntarily reducing the amount of salt in their products and introducing low-salt products. Since 2004, Nestle says it has rolled out a program resulting in a 30% salt reduction in its breakfast cereal products.
'We are committed to concrete action,' said CIAA president Martin. 'Voluntary measures are a fast and effective tool to promote balanced diets and healthy lifestyles.'



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