In a report published on Wednesday, December 11, the Court of Auditors welcomes France’s “proactive” policy to fight against obesity. However, she regrets that the agri-food industry does not play the game.
Reduce obesity by 15% and stabilize overweight in adults, strengthen the prescription of physical activity, better care for overweight people… Here are some of the objectives set by the 4and National Health Nutrition Program (PNNS). It was launched last September by the Minister for Solidarity and Health, Agnès Buzyn, and sets the course for food and nutrition policy for the next five years. In recent years, successive governments have put measures in place to combat obesity. Some have made it possible, for example, to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and to increase fruit consumption in adults.
A “proactive” but “poorly coordinated” policy
Last year, the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly seized the Court of Auditors on the issue of the fight against obesity. In a report published on Wednesday, December 11, the magistrates welcome the policy to fight against obesity in France. “France is one of the few countries that have embarked (…) on an ambitious public nutritional health policy”, can we read there in particular. The Court of Auditors commends this “proactive” policy. However, it is also “uncoordinated”.
To be more effective, the magistrates advise to go through “a more restrictive regulation” of the food industry. “To improve the nutritional quality of food, the public authorities have (…) chosen an incentive method based on the voluntary work of the agri-food industries”. However, “the results obtained by this self-regulation are now showing their limits”, they believe.
The Nutri-Score, an example of “bad faith” on the part of manufacturers
The Court of Auditors chooses for example the Nutri-score, a scale of letters and colors that allows the consumer to assess the nutritional quality of the product he is about to buy or eat. Launched two years ago, this logo is not mandatory in France. And this, because of European regulations. In fact, its generalization “runs up against the opposition of some industrialists, in particular many multinational companies, in particular those producing very sweet and/or fatty drinks or foods”, details the Court. The Department of Health says more than 180 manufacturers and distributors have adopted the Nutri-Score. However, last November, the consumer association UFC-Que Choisir claimed that the logo was only displayed on 5% of industrial products.
In addition, the Court of Auditors points to the advertising made for these industrial products which targets the youngest. “Attempts to regulate more marketing aimed at children in audiovisual and digital media have failed,” she says. The magistrates propose a possible path for improvement: additional taxation of the least good nutritional products, whose “effect has been amply demonstrated in the case of tobacco.”
.
