The European Union’s food industry has reportedly been given a year to halt advertising of junk food to children and improve labelling or face the threat of possible legislation.
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Food manufacturers have been accused of exacerbating the EU’s current obesity crisis by continuing with aggressive advertising of unhealthy food to children.
Markos Kyprianou, EU health and consumer affairs commissioner, told the Financial Times he believes self regulation in the food industry is the way forward, but warned that if the industry’s actions were not sufficient it would be prepared to legislate on the issue.
“The signs from the industry are very encouraging, very positive. But if this doesn’t produce satisfactory results, we will proceed to legislation,” Kyprianou was quoted by the FT as saying.
The commissioner also said the EU wants to involve the food industry, health groups and governments in new initiatives to encourage healthy lifestyles throughout the EU.
On the subject of food labelling, Kyprianou called for clearer labelling that could be “more easily understood by a consumer who doesn’t have a PhD in chemistry,” the Financial Times reported.
In response, the Food and Drink Federation, which represents the UK’s food industry, said the industry has already committed to more informative labelling and working with the government to review the existing code of practice on advertising.
