BIA Obesity Europe

Tackling obesity and improving population diets requires a comprehensive societal response, including government policies, community support, and wide-scale action from the food industry. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified a number of actions that the food industry can take to improve population nutrition and create healthier food environments, including limiting the levels of salt, free sugars, saturated fat, and trans fat in products; ensuring that healthy and nutritious choices are available and affordable to all consumers; practicing responsible marketing of foods high in salt, free sugars, and saturated fats, especially to children; and providing consumers with clear, easily understood, and evidence-based nutrition information on food labels.

These methods were adapted from the Access to Nutrition Index (ATNI) that benchmarks the nutrition-related commitments, performance and disclosure practices of global food and beverage manufacturers.

The project team will work closely with each company to collate relevant policy details related to each indicator, including details at a country-, regional- and global-level as applicable. Input from representatives nominated by each company will assist in identifying the most up to date, accurate and comprehensive information.

The process will result in the development of scorecards for each company to enable comparison at a sector level both nationally and internationally. The project will clearly highlight areas in which companies are demonstrating leadership in the prevention of NCDs, and indicate specific areas for improvement at a company, sector and industry level.

The intention is to repeat this process on a regular basis and thus to track progress over time. Some first findings are expected to become available by 2020, and will be communicated broadly as part of efforts to increase awareness and accountability.