The European Union has only recently begun addressing the rising levels of obesity, as the phenomenon is a relatively new one. At this Café Crossfire Evening Debate, labeling was hailed as a useful weapon in educating consumers, although there was caution about whether it was enough to reverse Europe’s obesity surge.

Robert Madelin, the European Commission’s Director General for Health and Consumer Protection, said that consumers wanted more information about their foods, but the challenge for policy makers was to decide what to display, where, and how. The Commission has backed a percentage bases approach, and is hoping that the information will empower consumers to make better choices, he said.

Dorette Corbey, who sits on the European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee, said that obesity had reached such alarming levels that starker information was needed: she backed a traffic light, colour coding system that would clearly indicate – with red for danger and green for good – what are the healthy choices.

Unilever’s Vice President for External Affairs and Food, Dick Toet, said he supported a system involving Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA), but wanted more context in the communication: he said that simply putting the data on packages was not enough, and there had to be some interpretation to put it into perspective.

Featuring:

• Robert Madelin, European Commission Director General for Health and Consumer Protection
• Dick Toet, Vice President External Food Affairs, Unilever
• Dorette Corbey, Member of the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Moderated by Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe

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