Brussels, 30 november 2005

Brussels 30 November 2005 - Today EURO COOP - the European Community of Consumer Co-operatives - presented its Action Plan for 2006 to fight against obesity on the occasion of the Plenary Session of the European Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, the forum launched by the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Markos Kyprianou.

Obesity is registering unprecedented peaks across Europe. Governments, international organisations and stakeholders are confronted with an actual obesity epidemic and therefore urged to find appropriate responses to it.

EURO COOP member organisations have always been genuinely dedicated to consumer health. In tune with this attitude, since the '70s some consumer cooperatives have been running educational programmes and information campaigns on healthy lifestyles as well as displaying comprehensive nutrition information on the packaging of their food products. More recently, some consumer cooperatives have developed responsible marketing policies e.g. banning advertising of foods with high salt, sugar and fats content to children. Much work has also been done in the area of product composition to offer consumers healthier alternatives.

To strengthen their fight against obesity, EURO COOP member organisations have committed today to continuing to promote healthy lifestyles by confirming the existing activities and launching new ones.

Accordingly, in 2006 consumer cooperatives in UK, Italy and Sweden will roll out their product reformulation plans across their food lines. Educational programmes on nutrition and health for schoolchildren will be further improved in Denmark. National information campaigns on healthy lifestyles will be carried -out in Italy, Spain and in the Nordic countries. Finally, pilot projects on food signposting will be implemented in Portugal and Italy.

Commenting on the EURO COOP Action Plan, Francesco Montanari, EURO COOP Food Policy Officer, said today: "Consumer cooperatives have always taken consumer welfare seriously as an inherent driver of our policies. Our Action Plan for 2006 is further evidence of it". Referring to the EU Platform, he added: "The EU Platform is now approaching a crucial phase in which its members are expected to undertake concrete commitments for the years to come. EURO COOP believes that, in order to deliver results, commitments should be taken by national or individual members of the European organisations sitting in the Platform and be shaped in such a way to allow proper monitoring". He concluded: "The Platform should now set clear objectives to achieve. That will allow Platform members to focus their actions, make a better use of the existing resources and look into possible stakeholder partnerships".

The European Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health is the EU Commission's response to the current obesity epidemic in Europe. Launched on 15 March 2005, it groups together EU representatives from the food and advertising industry, consumer and public NGOs and the retail sector with a view to triggering actions to combat obesity at national and local levels. EURO COOP is a founding-member of the Platform.