By 2030, France could have 30 million obese people if we do nothing. The report on junk food in France voted in the Assembly on September 26 alerts on industrial food. The parliamentary committee of inquiry on industrial food (formed on request by the La France Insoumise group) has published its report: it calls for a reduction in the content of salt, fat, sugar and additives in food.
Limit the harmful effects of junk food on health
The goal? “Take back the power on our plates“explains Loic Prud’homme, LFI deputy and chairman of the commission of inquiry. Poor diet causes overweight, obesity, chronic diseases. For the deputies, this is a real public health issue.
The report also underlines that the populations most affected are those with the least financial means. It is urgent to limit harmful products in industrial food. The means of action are vast: increasing organic food in collective catering, adding restrictions to advertising, better informing consumers and making Nutri-Score, an industrial labeling system, compulsory. Today optional, it consists in indicating the origin of all the products and the exhaustive list of all the additives.
We should start by reducing additives, currently limited to 338. The report calls for this number to be reduced to 48 by 2025, the same level as in organic food currently. But also to further limit contaminants in packaging. They point the finger at an additive, often used and particularly harmful: titanium dioxide, asking for its ban.
The salt problem
” The World Health Organization recommends a salt intake limited to 5 grams per person per day, while today we are at a range of 10 to 12 grams »Explains the rapporteur of the commission, the deputy LRM Michèle Crouzet. She insists on limiting the salt in bread, which is the source of 30% of daily salt intake in France. However, the proposed tax on excessively salty foods was not retained.
Also read:
- Junk food: 400,000 victims in the United States each year
- European Obesity Day: stop preconceived ideas
