Brussels, 29 October 2004

Brussels, 29 October 2004 - EURO COOP, the European Community of Consumer Co-operatives, today reiterated its call for an EU Strategy on nutrition and obesity at a high-level stakeholder workshop organised by the European Commission. Consumer cooperatives insisted on the need to make healthy eating choice a reality and to enable consumers to have a balanced diet.

Obesity and many chronic diseases are rapidly on the rise in Europe. Data show that people consume too much fat, saturated fat, added sugar and salt. From a public health perspective, consumption of these nutrients should be considerably reduced in people's overall diet.

"One of the major problems is that people live with the illusion that they make healthy eating choices, although in reality this is usually not the case", commented EURO COOP Food Policy Officer Aude L'hirondel. This illusion is largely nourished by heavy advertising, directed in particular at children, but also by misleading labelling and claims. National governments should do more to empower their citizens and promote good nutritional choices. "For example, in the UK, £1 is spent by the Government to promote a balanced diet against £ 800 spent by the food industry to promote their products!", she added. Also, advertising and marketing tools should be socially responsible and encourage healthy dietary practice and physical activity.

In EURO COOP's view, the Commission willingness to tackle the obesity epidemic is an important initiative that complement its proposals on nutrition and health claims and fortified foods. EURO COOP believes it is vitally important to tackle the misleading way that foods and health messages are promoted. The much-awaited proposal on nutritional labelling will also be key in enabling consumers to know about the whole composition of a product and to make the appropriate choice according to the nutrients it contains.