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The food and drink industry has been warned by the European Commission that it could face new regulations within three years if it is judged to be doing too little to tackle obesity.
EC health commissioner Markos Kyprianou, launching a new EC policy paper on obesity, said companies had made some progress to date, with one in three businesses voluntarily reducing the level of fats and salt in food and others curbing advertising to children.
For now the EC will allow companies to adopt a voluntary approach, but Kyprianou warned that if there are no significant gains within three years, then some kind of regulation is inevitable, and the existing policy would anyway undergo further review in 2010. In the meantime, the Commission will outline plans for a food labelling scheme later this year. More than half of adults in Europe are now overweight or obese, according to EC officials. The World Health Organization says the prevalence of obesity has more than tripled in many European countries since the 1980s.
Sabine Henssler of the Brussels-based CIAA food and drink industry trade group described the EC’s stance as ‘very sensible’ because it would give the sector ‘time to show that self-regulation measures are working’.
EC health commissioner Markos Kyprianou, launching a new EC policy paper on obesity, said companies had made some progress to date, with one in three businesses voluntarily reducing the level of fats and salt in food and others curbing advertising to children.
For now the EC will allow companies to adopt a voluntary approach, but Kyprianou warned that if there are no significant gains within three years, then some kind of regulation is inevitable, and the existing policy would anyway undergo further review in 2010. In the meantime, the Commission will outline plans for a food labelling scheme later this year. More than half of adults in Europe are now overweight or obese, according to EC officials. The World Health Organization says the prevalence of obesity has more than tripled in many European countries since the 1980s.
Sabine Henssler of the Brussels-based CIAA food and drink industry trade group described the EC’s stance as ‘very sensible’ because it would give the sector ‘time to show that self-regulation measures are working’.
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