Food and drink firms may have to cut sugar and fat content

Food and drink manufacturers may be forced to lower the sugar and fat content of products if they fail to do so voluntarily.

The Department of Health is looking at requiring food companies to make their products healthier should a voluntary initiative to reformulate them fail to bear fruit.

Dr John Devlin, deputy chief medical officer at the department, said the industry's moves toward voluntary reformulation were taking longer than anticipated.

“We’re waiting for them to come back to us, in terms of the number of products covered and the targets for reducing sugar and fat. The ball is in their court,” he said, speaking at a conference on obesity.

“We would prefer to achieve this through a voluntary programme of reformulation but if this doesn’t happen, we will look at other options.”

Dr Devlin declined to spell out what alternatives were being considered, but they are believed to include a requirement on companies to lower the unhealthy content of foods.

Ireland was in the middle of an obesity epidemic and well on the trajectory to becoming the fattest nation in Europe, he said. Because there was no single cause of the problem there would be no single solution.

Food and Drink Industry Ireland said its members have participated in extensive reformulation efforts in the past decade, including a salt reduction programme since 2005.

"Most food companies have been gradually reducing salt, fat, saturated fat and sugar during this time, based on prevailing scientific advice," said Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII) director Paul Kelly.

FDII was quantifying the amount of reformulation by some of its members over this period, and its impact on the population, and would be encouraging more companies to participate in this work, he said.

Cornell University psychologist Prof Brian Wansink, said people's eating and food purchasing habits could be easily and positively influenced through simple, low-cost alterations to homes, restaurants and supermarkets.

“We’ve gradually arranged our homes to make our favourite tasty foods easier to find and eat. Restaurants have made it easier to order larger portions of food, while supermarkets have made it easier to buy in greater quantities. All of this combined is making us ‘fat by design’,” he argued.

Almost one-third of the world is now overweight or obese and the global economic burden of the disease amounts to $2 trillion (€1.8 trillion) a year, according to Dr Sorcha McKenna, principal of McKinsey Ireland.

“We will have to pull together many different interventions to deliver a significant impact and effect change,” she told the conference, organised by the food industry-funded Nutrition and Health Foundation. “We cannot rely on personal responsibility and education alone.”

Scorecard: Fat by design

Prof Wansick has developed a scorecard for people to assess whether their kitchens are making them “fat by design”. See how you perform by answering yes or no to these statements:

• Salad and vegetables are served first, before the main course is brought to the table;
• The main dish is pre-plated and served from the stove;
• Your dinner plates are 9-10 inches wide (bigger, and the portions grow; smaller, and people come back for more);
• You eat sitting at a table with the TV off;
• There are two or fewer soft drinks in the fridge;
• Your kitchen counter is organised, not cluttered;
• Pre-cut fruit and vegetables can be found on the middle shelf of your fridge;
• At least six single servings of lean protein are in your fridge (such as eggs, yogurt, tofu, etc);
• Your snacks are kept in one inconveniently placed cupboard;
• The only food item on your kitchen counter is a fruit bowl.

Most US kitchens score about three, according to Prof Wansink, while members of the Swedish academy of sciences scored six. The more times you answer yes to these questions, the healthier your kitchen is.