The EU Farm to Fork Strategy is out. It sets a roadmap for delivering sustainable production and consumption and we look forward to reading it in detail and engaging with all stakeholders in the future.
Our industry welcomes EU-wide approaches that are evidence-based, continue to place food safety centre stage, and also secure the competitiveness and dynamism of the food and drink sector. We will continue our strong focus on sugar and calorie reduction across our products in order to make the “healthier choice the easy choice” in line with one of the key pillars of Farm to Fork.
Labelling
We are eager to work with policymakers in support of Farm to Fork’s call for establishing an EU-wide, harmonised front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme that meets the needs of all EU citizens and takes into account the diversity of diets. To be successful, the scheme must be evidence-based, developed under an EU governance model and be able to be scaled across the continent in line with existing legislation. It should provide further help to consumers to choose lower sugar/calorie options if they wish, while continuing to provide producers with the opportunity to reformulate and offer consumer choice. UNESDA members have provided nutrition labelling front-of-pack since 2008.
Code of conduct on responsible marketing
It is important that the food and drink industry behaves responsibly in its sales and marketing – particularly in relation to children. UNESDA members took wide-ranging commitments to act responsibly towards children back in 2006. The commitments covered sales and marketing practices in media and in schools.
Since 2006, for almost 15 years, member companies have:
- not advertised or marketed their products to children under 12. Not on TV, in print, online or on social media.
- Not offered ANY soft drinks for sale in primary schools.
- In secondary schools, if our members sell their products at all, drinks are only displayed in unbranded vending machines. In 2017, UNESDA tightened its commitment to pledge that ONLY no- and low-calorie drinks are sold in EU secondary schools.
These commitments are regularly monitored by independent auditors such as PwC and high levels of compliance have been confirmed.
We strongly support the Farm to Fork ambition to seek industry-wide commitments towards responsible marketing practices. UNESDA and its members have long-standing experience and are keen to share this with others and encourage active participation towards the development of an EU Code of Conduct.
