Durban - The Department of Health wants to pull the plug on the marketing of junk food and sweetened beverages to children in controversial new draft amendment regulations that propose a blanket ban on restaurants and food companies targeting kids with “unhealthy food” advertising.
A far-reaching draft guideline document to the amendment regulations bans the use in advertising of cartoon characters, celebrities and sports stars, competitions, toy give-aways, collectibles, tokens, happy, caring family scenes and the corporate sponsorship of sports clubs, health campaigns and schools, to put a stop to junk food marketing to children.
School tuckshops and vendors are included in the ban, which stretches from outdoor advertising, print and traditional broadcasting to social and online media.
SA Association for Food Science and Technology custodian member, Janusz Luterek, a lawyer and food engineer who consults to the food industry said the new draft food labelling Regulation 429 under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, if implemented as the department intended, would mean the end of give-aways and cartoon characters such as Ronald Mcdonald and the advertising of fast foods like Happy Meals. The deadline for compliance is May 1, 2015, while the public has until August 29 to comment.
According to Section 65 of the regulation “no food or non-alcoholic beverage shall be marketed to children unless it complies with all the criteria in Guideline 14”, which is a 145-page document with strict outlines that bans the marketing to children of “unhealthy food” and drinks with added fructose and sweeteners.
According to the new guidelines only foods and drinks that have met the screening criteria of the Food Control Directorate’s Nutrient Profiling Model and are not too high in fat, saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, total sugar and sodium; don’t contain added fructose, non-nutritive sweeteners, fluoride and aluminium and which don’t exceed nutrient levels per 100g/ml based on the UK Food Standards Agency Criteria may be marketed to children.
However, Luterek said it was questionable whether the guidelines could be legally enforced, alleging that they had not followed the usual legal process. “A guideline is not passed into law and can be changed at any time without any intervention by the minister so you are putting the power to make laws in the hands of public officials,” Luterek said.
“You can’t make the whole regulation an external document because you are bypassing the regulation process.”
Luterek said the guidelines had some “nonsensical” points such as allowing the marketing of 100 percent fruit juice to children and banning advertising at any places where children may gather, such as shopping centres and streets.
“They are trying to reduce the advertising of unhealthy foodstuff but the way they are going about doing it, means they are going to face challenges,” he said.
“Multinationals will be hugely affected. Mcdonald’s won’t be able to use “Happy Meals” and Ronald Mcdonald is also gone. It won’t shut them down but it will seriously affect their business and they wont be able to sponsor any sports or schools,” Luterek said.
“You won’t be able to have Bakers Mini Cricket because it’s a biscuit that contains sugar and fat. And what if your company makes both healthy and unhealthy food – if there’s a salad valley and creamy desserts?
“They have thought of things in black and white and in no shades of grey – you’re either a baddie or a goody,” Luterek said.
In its preamble the department said it had proposed the guidelines in response to a 2010 World Health Assembly resolution and to reduce the impact of non-communicable lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular disease (leading to heart attacks and stroke); cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes, which according to WHO claimed more than 36 million deaths a year in 2010. According to WHO low- and middle-income countries such as South Africa bear nearly 80 percent of the burden of these diseases and a key driver in their rise is the advertising of food high in fat, sugar and salt but low in nutritional value.
According to the International Obesity Taskforce, an estimated 200 million school-aged children are either overweight or obese and, of those, 40-50 million are classified obese. It was estimated in 2010 that 43 million children under the age of five were overweight and obese, of which 35 million lived in developing countries.
Lawyer Herman Blignaut a partner at Spoor and Fisher who consults to food companies said the regulations were a “very strict” ban on marketing fast food and sweet beverages to children. He said many large businesses intended to submit comments regarding the impact of the regulations.
“Many people don’t have the knowledge or expertise to decipher what these regulations mean and the impact. Small proprietors are taking a wait and see approach,” Blignaut said.
Consumer Goods Council of South Africa Food, Safety Initiative head, Francina Makhoane, said the division and its members were still in the process of studying the regulations and the draft guideline document.
“The (organisation) will be in a better position to provide comments that reflect the collective view of its members once all comments have been received. We anticipate that the proposed amendments will have the potential to impact negatively on the sale of certain foodstuffs,” Makhoane said.
“CGCSA is a non-statutory body and does not have a mandate to enforce or monitor compliance to any regulation. However, should the regulation be promulgated into law, the CGCSA will encourage members to fully adhere,” Makhoane said.
McDonald’s South Africa corporate affairs director Sechaba Motsieloa said: “McDonald’s South Africa’s submission will concentrate on addressing the potential restrictions applicable to our industry. Our submission will address areas of concern and highlight potential gaps in trying to implement the regulations in their present form. We will draw on global best practices to highlight approaches that have worked and those that have failed in the past, relating to legislations of this nature.”
Darren Hele, Food Services chief executive officer of Famous Brands which has in its stable Steers, Wimpy, Debonairs Pizza, Fishaways, Milky Lane, Mugg and Bean and others declined to comment.
“We are currently working through the detail of this proposed legislation and it would be inappropriate to comment at this stage,” Hele said.
Consumer Fair chairman, Thami Bolani, said the move was in line with international pressure from WHO and consumer groups to stop the marketing of junk food to children to halt obesity and disease.
“Most governments are now pushing for it, so it’s not just South Africa that is trying to get people to reduce their intake of salt, oil and sugar, because it will promote good health among young people,” Bolani said.
Bolani said advertising in future could focus on promoting healthy foods like fresh vegetables and milk.
SA National Consumer Union (Sancu) vice-chairman Clif Johnston said consumers were concerned that a significant contribution to child obesity rested in the advertising of junk food.
“The sole purpose of such marketing is to increase profits without any consideration of the health of consumers who are too young to understand the consequences,” Johnston said.
“Sancu welcomes the intent of the draft labelling regulations, and is broadly in agreement with them with exceptions. Our only concern regards enforcement of such far-reaching and wide-ranging legislation,” Johnston said.
Association for Dietetics in South Africa spokeswoman Cheryl Meyer said dietitians shared the department’s goal to reduce disease risk.
“Whilst there may be a role for restricting the types of foods that are marketed to children, more information is required to determine whether banning advertising of less healthy foods to children will have a positive impact on children’s eating behaviours,” Meyer said.
“Education about making healthy food choices and how different foods can form part of a balanced diet, as well as addressing barriers to healthy choices, needs to form part of any intervention,” she said.
Daily News