Food Industry Reacts To Irish Obesity Plan

26 Sep 2016 --- Key players in the food industry have reacted to the Irish national Obesity Policy, with many industry bodies opposing the suggested sugar taxation. The National Obesity Policy, which was released last week, proposes a sugar tax, minimum portion sizes, marketing restrictions and reformulation targets.

Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII) Director Paul Kelly, commented on the launch of the National Obesity Policy and Action Plan, saying, “FDII supports evidence-based policy making and a collaborative approach to diet and public health. There are elements of the new policy that the food and drink industry can support through our work on effective measures like product reformulation, nutrition labeling, product choice and workplace wellbeing.”

“However, the food sector is adamantly opposed to the inclusion of policy measures, like food and beverage taxes, which are unfair, discriminatory and not evidence based.”

Kevin McPartlan, Director of the Irish Beverage Council, shares the same opinion, saying: “As a major employer and contributor to the national and local economies, the soft drinks industry understands the need to address the obesity challenge which has a wide range of causes. Doing so will require a combined effort on behalf of government, the health profession, the general public, and our industry.”

“We note the publication of today’s national obesity plan and its recommendations. We are extremely pleased that the Government strategy states it is to examine the evidence for the efficacy of fiscal measures in addressing obesity. The best policy solutions are those grounded in evidence.”

“The call for the immediate introduction of a tax/levy on sugar-sweetened drinks fails that test. There is no evidence that an additional tax on soft drinks will achieve the desired public health outcomes. Any objective assessment of the international evidence will find sugar taxes have failed to meaningfully tackle the obesity challenge. Introduction in Ireland would penalize Irish consumers and businesses and threaten Irish jobs for no health dividend.”

“For many years we have invested heavily in reformulation of our products to reduce the amount of sugar and number of calories they contain. We have also introduced new low and no calorie/sugar drinks to offer more choice to consumers. Through these efforts we took 10 billion calories out of the national diet in the seven years to 2012. We will continue with this work but our capacity to invest further is reduced if our sales revenue suffers through a discriminatory tax on soft drinks – which account for just 3% of calories consumed in Ireland. “Therefore, we call on the Minister for Finance to abandon any plans to introduce an additional tax on our products, and instead to work with our industry on real and effective solutions that will help address the obesity challenge.”

However, The Chief Executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) Dr Pamela Byrne praised the new plan, stating that the national Obesity Policy and Action Plan 2016-2025 is a significant policy strategy to tackle the prevalence of overweight and obesity.

The FSAI acknowledges its role as a leader and partner with the Department of Health and other State agencies in a range of specific actions and measures outlined in the policy.

In particular, these include applying its scientific and specialist acumen to undertake a review of EU consumer information labeling of foods and its application in the Irish market; agreeing food industry reformulation targets and reviewing progress; monitoring compliance with the WHO Code of Practice on the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes; partnering with the Department of Health and other bodies to develop a code of practice for food and beverages promotion, marketing and sponsorship and; providing expert input into the development of calorie posting legislation.