Abstract
The food industry has an important role to play in efforts to improve population diets. This study aimed to benchmark the comprehensiveness, specificity and transparency of nutrition-related policies and commitments of major food companies in Australia. In 2018, we applied the Business Impact Assessment on Obesity and Population Level Nutrition (BIA-Obesity) tool and process to quantitatively assess company policies across six domains. Thirty-four companies operating in Australia were assessed, including the largest packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers (n = 19), supermarkets (n = 4) and quick-service restaurants (n = 11). Publicly available company information was collected, supplemented by information gathered through engagement with company representatives. Sixteen out of 34 companies (47%) engaged with data collection processes. Company scores ranged from 3/100 to 71/100 (median: 40.5/100), with substantial variation by sector, company and domain. This study demonstrated that, while some food companies had made commitments to address population nutrition and obesity-related issues, the overall response from the food industry fell short of global benchmarks of good practice. Future studies should assess both company policies and practices. In the absence of stronger industry action, government regulations, such as mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling and restrictions on unhealthy food marketing, are urgently needed.
Highlights
Unhealthy diets and obesity are the leading contributors to poor health worldwide [1,2].In Australia, two-thirds of adults and one in four children and adolescents are living with overweight and obesity [3]
The increase in obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) can largely be attributed to increasingly unhealthy food environments, dominated by the supply, distribution and marketing of packaged, processed foods that are often high in salt, sugar, saturated fat and/or energy [4]
This paper reports the results of the implementation of Phase 1 of the BIA-Obesity in Australia in 2017–2018
Summary
Unhealthy diets and obesity are the leading contributors to poor health worldwide [1,2]. In Australia, two-thirds of adults and one in four children and adolescents are living with overweight and obesity [3]. The increase in obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) can largely be attributed to increasingly unhealthy food environments, dominated by the supply, distribution and marketing of packaged, processed foods that are often high in salt, sugar, saturated fat and/or energy [4]. As part of a comprehensive societal response to unhealthy diets and obesity, there is global consensus that there needs to be a transition to healthy food environments, in which the foods, Int. J. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 6118; doi:10.3390/ijerph17176118 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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