Mandatory food targets?
November 12, 2012
THE National Heart Foundation of
Australia is pressuring the
Government to install mandatory
salt and saturated fat levels for the
food industry, in a bid to make
processed food healthier.
At present, processed foods
account for around 75% of total food
sales in Australia, with supermarket
shelves containing around 40,000-
55,000 individual food products.
“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,” said Heart
Foundation CEO, Dr Lyn Roberts.
“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,” Roberts added.
The call follows the release of the
Heart Foundation's new paper,
Effectiveness of food reformulation
as a strategy to improve population
health, which found that 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.
The paper also found that a
mandatory approach to salt
reformulation would be twice as
cost effective and would avert
twice the burden of disease
compared to a voluntary approach;
and that even a modest salt
reduction (1-3grams per day) in the
population's diet will have potential
health benefits.
“After three years of the food
reformulation program in Australia,
we only have six categories targets
in place, while the UK has targets
for 80 categories and sub
categories,” Roberts said.
“We need to have a significant
number of food categories in place
to make a major impact on health
outcomes. It's time to act.
“For those who are resisting the
changes, we only need to look to
the UK to see how in 10 years they
successfully reduced salt in the
average adults' diet by 1.5 grams,”
Roberts added.
According to the Heart
Foundation’s wish list, in addition
to having mandatory nutrition
targets across processed foods,
there should be changes specific to
each food category, not a blanket
approach, for example bread
targets would need to be different
to breakfast cereals or soups.
The targets also should be
progressively implemented with
incremental changes made over a
number of years, according to
Roberts.
In addition, the Heart Foundation
is calling for a mandatory front-ofpack
labelling system, and for the
funding of a social-marketing
consumer education campaign that
focuses on reducing salt and
saturated fats in food.
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