The European Parliament seems to be all out to ensure that the sugar content in infant foods is drastically reduced. In a recent vote taken in a plenary session of the European Parliament, MEPs voted against draft rules published by the European Commission to regulate the composition of processed cereal-based food and foods for infants and young children since they would have allowed baby foods to contain up to three times more sugar than is recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
WHO recommends limiting the sugar content in baby food to less than 10 per cent of total energy intake. In this way, future generations would be safeguarded against obesity and other diseases.
A 2013 EU law makes provision for new general rules regulating the composition and labelling of food intended for infants and young children, food for special medical purposes, and total diet replacement for weight control.
This law will, as from next July 2016, replace previous laws regulating the same products.
In terms of this new law, the European Commission is empowered to adopt specific compositional and labelling rules for processed cereal-based foods and baby foods.
The rules presented by the Commission to the European Parliament have not, however, met the latter’s approval since, in terms of these rules, sugars in baby foods could continue to provide up to 30 per cent of the energy intake from such foods. MEPs are of the opinion that the sugar content in such foods should match that recommended by WHO.
A vote was also taken in favour of ensuring that emerging technologies, such as GMOs and nanotechnologies – the long-term risks of which are not known – are prohibited in infant foods.
Parliament also called for clearer labelling on and marketing of processed baby foods. MEPs are insisting that manufacturers should label and market baby products in such a way as to make it clear that such products are not appropriate for infants of less than six months of age and should not undermine the six-month exclusive breastfeeding recommendation.
Parliament’s veto of the draft rules means that, despite the fact that these rules have been in the pipeline for the last two years, the European Commission must now go back to the drawing board to reconsider and redraft.
Ensuring that Europe has in place rules which permit only the healthiest of products to be placed on the market will in the long term signify huge savings on monies spent by EU member states in the treatment of illnesses caused by poor diets. Indeed, statistics show that an unhealthy diet can now be considered to be the major cause of most diseases and death globally, forcing nations to pump millions into their national health systems. Any new rules regulating the manufacture of baby foods must therefore, clearly, not focus on short term savings for manufacturers but must be drafted keeping in mind that the babies of today will be the adults of tomorrow.
mariosa@vellacardona.com
Mariosa Vella Cardona is a freelance legal consultant specialising in European law, competition law, consumer law and intellectual property law.