Australia’s food industry has welcomed the release of the Federal Government’s National Obesity Strategy and is committed to working with both state and federal groups to achieve change.
The strategy has two ambitious goals – to halt the rise and reverse the trend in the prevalence of obesity in adults, and to reduce overweight and obesity in children and adolescents by at least 5 per cent by 2030.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) CEO Tanya Barden said the strategy had been “some time in the making, but we are pleased to see it”.
“Addressing obesity is an ongoing journey for the food industry as we create better products, market them responsibly and ensure consumers have the information they need to construct diets which promote and protect good health”, said Barden.
Barden said the food industry has been a strong supporter of previous initiatives such as the Health Star Rating food labelling scheme and other voluntary actions, such as setting targets for food reformulation to reduce salt and sugar levels and preparing industry guidance on appropriate serving sizes to be shown on packaged food labels.
“We will work closely with the government to develop some new initiatives targeting obesity, as well as continuing to support the ongoing good work of the Healthy Food Partnership.”
