Health emissaries bring up school meals

School meals were at the centre of a European Food Industry debate in Brussels recently.

Talks were held on the current European health crisis and the impact to food and beverage manufacturers. Representatives from leading companies attended the event, including Cadbury Schweppes, Kraft, Ajinomoto, Nestle, Carrefour, Group Danone, Coca-Cola, and European Food & Drink Trade Associations.

Topics included obesity, child nutrition, heath claims and nutrient profiling, among others. Manufacturers were warned that many accepted foods would have an unfavourable nutrient profile under proposed EU legislation. Other views claimed that nutrient profiling did not serve any purpose from a health education point of view. But larger companies are not waiting for legislation and food giants such as PepsiCo and Kraft are already introducing their own guidance systems such as indicating healthier choices by category, which has been successful in Australia.

Paul Coussement, CEO of Orafti noted that many companies are rushing to have a health makeover, but he said companies should support personalised nutrition and new food labelling concepts. One positive project examined was that of a UK celebrity chef who persuaded the government to change policy on school meals as a result of a TV series exposing the poor nutritional quality of food given to children.

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