Scottish Health Minister Michael Matheson has reportedly written to U.K. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, urging him to support a ban on all TV advertising for foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) before the 9 p.m. watershed. According to media sources, Matheson cited OfCom studies allegedly indicating that, while children’s broadcasting adheres to strict advertising restrictions, young viewers were still seeing ads for HFSS foods during programs intended for older audiences such as talent shows. “Broadcast advertising influences the choices made by children and can shape their attitudes to food as they grow into adulthood,” Matheson was quoted as saying. “Tackling obesity and encouraging people to make healthier life choices is one of the most important things we can do to improve the health of our nation.” Although the initiative has since been lauded by groups like the National Heart Forum and British Medical Association, it has also drawn…
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The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has determined that a series of tweets from Rio Ferdinand and Katie Price that culminated in messages specifically referencing and showing a photo of these personalities with Snickers® bars did not violate the U.K. Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (Code). The initial tweets did not contain any indication that they were sponsored by Mars Chocolate UK Ltd. The final tweets, with the Snickers® content, included “#spon” to indicate they were sponsored and the “strap line ‘you’re not you when you’re hungry.’” According to Mars, the strap line was intended to tie into the earlier tweets, “because their content would not usually be associated with the celebrity tweeters.” The company also indicated that it believed only the final tweets were marketing communications and that the earlier tweets did not require identification as marketing communications. In the alternative, the company explained that “the…
The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has censured Kellogg Marketing and Sales Co. (UK), Ltd. for falsely claiming on its website, in relation to promotions for children’s breakfast cereals, that “A panel of world health experts recently reviewed all the scientific evidence and concluded that a high sugar intake is not related to obesity, or the development of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure or cancer.” ASA acknowledged that Kellogg’s had based the claim on “credible scientific evidence and review,” but noted that the company’s wording, without qualifiers, did not account for contrary evidence and “implied there was absolute certainty about the claims being made,” which is not the case. Because Kellogg’s had “referred in particular to a high sugar intake,” ASA concluded that the claim was misleading given the number of authoritative government cautions about limiting the quantity of sugary foods consumed. The company apparently assured…
A U.K.-based public interest charity has filed 54 separate complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) contending that the subject companies, including Cadbury and Pringles, are promoting food products high in sugars, fat or salt to children online. Described by the Children’s Food Campaign (CFC) as a “super complaint,” the case reflects the findings of a report the charity released in December 2011 claiming that food advertisers use brand characters, animations, games, competitions, and videos online and through social media to heavily market junk food to children. It calls for the U.K. government to close a loophole allowing ads for products that cannot be aired during children’s programming to be freely promoted online. According to CFC spokesperson Malcolm Clark, youth marketing standards applicable to TV should be matched online. The existing code apparently states, “marketing communications must not condone or encourage poor nutritional habits or an unhealthy lifestyle in children.”…
Individual members of the U.K. Food and Drink Federation (FDF) have reportedly announced plans to reconfigure their packaging after recent studies showed mineral oils from recycled cardboard leaching into food items. According to a March 8, 2011, BBC News article, which cited government researchers in Switzerland, the chemicals are used in printing inks “and have been linked to inflammation of internal organs and cancers.” At least one study evidently demonstrated that mineral oils could pass “easily” through many of the inner linings used in recycled cardboard boxes, with only 30 out of 119 sampled products deemed free of mineral oil. “For the others they all exceeded the limit, and most exceeded it more than 10 times, and we calculated that in the long run they would probably exceed the limit 50 times on average and many will exceed it several hundred times,” one researcher was quoted as saying. As a…
The U.K. pork industry has reportedly staged a protest at Whitehall, claiming that retailer price cuts and increased feed costs have driven the sector “to the brink of collapse.” Backed by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s British Pig Executive (BPEX) and the National Pig Association (NPA), the “Pigs Are Still Worth It” campaign has criticized supermarkets for reaping “record profits” while domestic feed prices have soared 30 percent, cutting into producer margins. “We need retailers to remind their buyers of the importance of supporting British pigmeat production with its high welfare and quality assurance standards,” stated NPA Chair Stewart Houston in an open letter, which highlighted a similar crisis in 2007 and 2008. In addition to meeting with government representatives, the groups have circulated a petition asking retailers “to pay pig producers a fair price—before it’s too late.” They have also reportedly urged consumers to avoid some large grocery chains…
The United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has reportedly launched an investigation to determine if a brand of ice cream made with donated breast milk has violated food safety regulations. Launched recently by a London-area restaurant, Baby Gaga ice cream was evidently pulled by the Westminster City Council after several complaints were lodged about whether the product was safe for human consumption. According to a news source, FSA joined with the council to decide if the ice cream breaches regulations mandating that “food shall not be placed on the market if it is unsafe” and that “food shall be deemed to be unsafe it if it is considered to be (i) injurious to health, and (ii) unfit for human consumption.” An industry source was quoted as saying that human breast milk donated to breast milk banks is required to pass rigorous screening to comply with guidelines established by the National…
The U.K. Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) has issued a February 25, 2011, Health and Iron Report recommending that the general population eat no more than 500 grams of red and processed meat per week, or 70 grams per day. At the request of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy, which in 1998 linked red and processed meat to colorectal cancer risk, SACN undertook “a comprehensive review of the role of iron in human nutrition,” including “potential adverse effects both of iron deficiency and of iron excess.” It ultimately concurred with the earlier findings that “high consumers of red and processed meat should consider reducing their intakes because of possible links with a risk of colorectal cancer.” SACN particularly noted that adults consuming more than 90 grams of red and processed meat per day “should consider reducing their intakes” to reflect the population average of…
The United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced that it is commissioning research aimed at modernizing official controls on meat. Noting that “the driving force” behind the Future Meat Controls Research Programme is to “improve public health by adopting a more risk- and evidence-based approach to meat production,” FSA said four areas of research will be part of the evidence to support regulatory change. Areas of research needed are (i) “an evaluation of food chain information, and collection and communication of inspection results for all species”; (ii) “trialling the visual inspection for fatting pigs from non-controlled housing conditions”; (iii) “a qualitative risk assessment of visual inspection of red meat and farmed/wild large game (all ages and species other than swine)”; and (iv) “trialling the use of a plant inspection assistant in approved game handling establishments (small and large wild game).” FSA requests proposals by April 6, 2011.
The U.K. Department for Business Innovation and Skills has released the results of a Foresight project titled “The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and choices for global sustainability,” which examines “the increasing pressures on the global food system between now and 2050.” Sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for International Development, the report apparently relied on 400 experts from 35 countries to analyze five key challenges: (i) “Balancing future demand and supply sustainably”; (ii) “Ensuring that there is adequate stability in food prices”; (iii) “Achieving global access to food and ending hunger”; (iv) “Managing the contribution of the food system to the mitigation of climate change”; and (v) “Maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services while feeding the world.” The report urges policy-makers “to consider the global food system from production to plate” and adopt “a broad view of food that goes beyond narrow…
