What is the purpose of the "Front of the Pack Labeling " regulations which are in vogue in most of the countries across the world? The simple answer is to achieve "transparency" in food quality and safety parameters for the benefit of the consumer. The next question is whether it is really effective? Here the answer is yes and no! While the consumer gets a broad insight into the product contained in the pack, for a layman most of the information provided does not make much sense. Besides effectiveness of any law depends on the way it is monitored and implemented and here the governments in many countries have failed their citizens. There might be many reasons for this situation but it is a reality one must face. Nutrition labeling is often touted as a successful way for consumer education and improvement of consumer health. This is at best a long shot based on the perception that "some thing is better than nothing"! In countries where literacy levels are high such labeling practices may be more relevant and naturally consumers there are demanding more transparency. Latest in this saga is the demand by some experts to regulate the industry with statutory limits being imposed for "bad" nutrients so that only healthy foods are marketed. The demand by Australian Heart Foundation based on some scientific and ground realities to force the industry to make only healthy foods is contained in the following report.
The National Heart Foundation of Australia is today calling on the Australian Government to enforce mandatory nutrition targets for the food industry to make our processed foods healthier. The call follows the release of the Heart Foundation's new paper, Effectiveness of food reformulation as a strategy to improve population health, which reveals: * removing 15-25% of the salt in Australia's processed foods over 10 years, could avert 5,800-9,700 heart attacks and 4,900-8,200 strokes every year a mandatory approach to salt reformulation is twice as cost effective and averts twice the burden of disease compared to a voluntary approach even a modest salt reduction (1-3grams per day) in the population's diet is shown to have potential health benefits. Heart Foundation CEO, Dr Lyn Roberts, said excess salt, saturated fat and trans fats found in processed foods were causing an unnecessary national heart health crisis. "We know processed foods are now a large part of the Australian diet and often contain hidden and excessive amounts of salt, saturated fat, trans fat and energy," Dr Roberts said. Government enforced mandatory targets for all processed food products would be far more transparent and effective at improving health than the voluntary opt-in approach we've seen to date. "Setting maximum levels of unhealthy ingredients in all processed foods will ensure food manufacturers make their products healthier, making a huge difference to our nation's health." Reformulating current and new processed foods involves manufacturers reducing the unhealthy ingredients such as salt, saturated fat and trans fats in their products and increasing the healthy nutrients such as dietary fibre, wholegrains, fruit, vegetables and unsaturated fats.
More interesting is another demand that food products churned out by the industry must be redesigned to enrich them with healthy ingredients like dietary fiber, unsaturated fatty acids, fruits, vegetables etc. How far the authorities in that country will go to accommodate this demand depends on consumer pressure. Also to be borne in mind is whether it is technically feasible to design products to meet the new standards which may be evolved for more healthy and less risky foods in future. Voluntary action being preferred by the industry may be effective to a limited extent as there might be many black sheep among them not adhering to such guidelines. Therefore Governments have the responsibility to force the industry to change its outlook for the benefit of their citizens. Best way to achieve the objective is to form a consortium of government, industry, consumer activists, health experts and food technologists to advice the authorities regarding the standards that are feasible and achievable on a long term basis.
V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com
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