Industry backs efforts to address obesity

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) is pleased to see the release of the Federal Government’s National Obesity Strategy today.

Australia’s food manufacturers work closely with governments at both state and federal levels to ensure Australian consumers have access to a wide variety of food products with appropriate labelling and marketing to inform choice, and assist healthy diet selection.

AFGC CEO Tanya Barden said that today’s release of Australia’s first National Obesity Strategy has been some time in the making but we are pleased to see it.

“We will work closely with Government to develop some new initiatives targeting obesity, as well as continuing to support the ongoing good work of the Healthy Food Partnership.

“Addressing obesity is an ongoing journey for the food industry as we create better products, market them responsibly and ensure consumers have the information they need to construct diets which promote and protect good health”, said Ms Barden.

The food industry has been a strong supporter other initiatives such as the Health Star Rating food labelling scheme and other voluntary actions including setting targets for food reformulation to reduce salt and sugar levels and preparing industry guidance on appropriate serving sizes to be shown on packaged food labels.

The strategy has two ambitious goals – to halt the rise and reverse the trend in the prevalence of obesity in adults, and to reduce overweight and obesity in children and adolescents by at least five per cent by 2030.