Article 8 178/2002 and overweight/obesity

[Isabel Rodrigues]

The question was, if I still remember it well, if food business operators where under obligation, according to article 8 178/2002, to state on their products something like “be aware that eating a lot of this product can contribute to overweight” or “be aware that this product can contribute to overweight”, in order to protect the consumers interests. Just from the point of view of common sense, I would say that a company would risk that consumers by reading it would not buy the product because it is not brought up in a constructive way.

From the legal point of view I don’t think they are under obligation. If the product is proper labelled with nutritional information, the producer gives all information the consumer needs to make a informed choice (article 8 (1) 178/2002).
Also the producer is not being fraudulent or being deceptive (article 8 (1)(a) 178/2002) or adulterating the food (article 8 (1)(b) 178/2002). Therefore if proper labelled and by not stating that extra information on the product, the producer is not misleading the consumer in my point of view and therefore fulfils the condition of article 8 (1)(c) 178/200 and also all of article 8, therefore he is acting according to law.

In fact, it is my opinion that by adding that extra information the producer could be in fact misleading the consumer. Because:
1- eating a lot of any product, even a healthy one, also leads to overweight (if the energy of what you eat is more then what you need or use)
2- overweight is a complex problem and it doesn’t depend on one product
3- that statement could lead people to eat that product with moderation but men doesn’t know what other products people eat or what their lifestyle is. Maybe they eat a lot of other products or don’t have a healthy lifestyle at all and consequently they still would get over weighted. Well…. maybe they would sue the company because they didn’t eat much of it and still they got over weighted…

It is the task of public health authorities to give health education, in order for the public to be able to make responsible choices if they want to, not the food business operators.
Of course food business operators could also do it but for marketing reasons, in order to profile themselves on the market, but not because of legal obligations.

Finally Article 8 talks about “…interests of consumers…”, one could ask himself which interests those are; what is interesting for one it is not for the other. Maybe there are people that don’t care (or are not able to restrain themselves) if eating a lot will get them over weighted. That’s why it is important to give nutritional information on the label, for people to be able to make a informed choice when proper educated and if they want to, because after all people are free to choose.

[JeroenM]

Dear Isabelle,

OK. point taken...

However, to my recollection the question was: "Can one use the GFL as a "tool" in fighting obesity?"

I'm inclined to agree with your analysis and to a certain level your opinion's arguments too:

[Isabel Rodrigues]

Jeroen, I’m glad you like my contribution and for now a quick reply…

I didn’t mean ” more information can be misleading” , I meant “be aware that eating a lot of this product can contribute to overweight” or “be aware that this product can contribute to overweight” can be misleading for the reasons I mentioned. Therefore I’m not presuming that additional information is wrong. Proper labelled as I suggested ( with nutritional information) helps the consumer to make a informed choice, and I agree that this is positive. Therefore I also imply what you said: “Then one could argue that information on a label should (at least) contribute in this prevention strategy.”

I also said “Of course food business operators could also do it but for marketing reasons, in order to profile themselves on the market, but not because of legal obligations.” Therefore I also imply as you that marketing and commercial information exist, but in my view not because of legal demands but because of marketing and commercial purposes. The links you gave confirm this for instance in "The Obesity Convenant" it is stated: “De overheid kan jarenlang voorlichten, vindt Kooiker, maar je kunt het probleem het beste benaderen als een commerciële kans. 'Dan ontstaat er energie en gebeurt er wat.’”

Also I mentioned that the message should be brought in a constructive way and that can be reached with nutritional information and with marketing for instance, at the link you gave ( http://www.ah.nl/gezondekeuze/calorieen/ ) a example is given how they do it.

You state “Just imagine that member states does define the interest of consumers”, this is probably the reason why health campaigns don’t work well; people thinking and deciding what is best for others and bring it like that to the public.

I still don't think that we can use the GFL as a "tool" in fighting obesity but that doesn’t mean that obesity shouldn’t be fought. Of course I agree that something as to be done about the problem, that it is a burden to the individual and also to the society and the more people are involved in doing something about it, the better. If government and industry work together for that purpose I find it great and I think that could work better because industry are entrepreneurs. I find it a disappointment that the government is putting most responsibility on the food industry…. a team works better, but well…

You mention “…but i'd like to see where it has been made obligatory these authorities must give health education?” . I think the Ministry of Health made it because he is responsibly for public health and therefore also responsible for prevention of obesity and their GGD’s have therefore to make public health campaigns. I do know that in some (Rotterdam, The Hague) they do it to prevent obesity in children. Also the Voedingscentrum (it’s not a public health entity but it’s also subsidized from the government) makes research and gives information about food to the public. The question could be do this public authorities do a good efficient job……