A review of front-of-pack nutrition labelling in Southeast Asia: Industry interference, lessons learned, and future directions

Pettigrew, Simone; Coyle, Daisy H.; McKenzie, Briar; Vu, Duong; Lim, Shiang Cheng; Berasi, Kyra; Poowanasatien, Amphika; Suya, Inthira; Kowal, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.lansea.2022.05.006

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…All seven countries included in the review had at least two binding well-documented globally and in Southeast Asia (Baker, Russ, et al, 2021;Pettigrew et al, 2022). The infant and young child food industry uses lobbying and political financing to both directly and indirectly influence the regulatory scope and scale of national binding legal measures for CPCF.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overpromoted and underregulated: National binding legal measures related to commercially produced complementary foods in seven Southeast Asian countries are not fully aligned with available guidance

Blankenship,

Nguyen,

White

et al. 2023

Maternal & Child Nutrition

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The market for commercially produced complementary foods (CPCF) is rapidly expanding in Southeast Asia; however, the existence and content of mandatory national policies, standards and legislation (binding legal measures) for CPCF in the region is unclear. To assess the status of national binding legal measures for CPCF in Southeast Asia, a legal and policy desk review was conducted in seven countries (Cambodia, Laos People's Democratic Republic, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam). The alignment of the national binding legal measures relevant to CPCF was assessed against guidance on CPCF nutrient composition and labelling requirements provided by Codex Alimentarius and the World Health Organization (WHO). Each of the seven countries had at least two national binding legal measures related to the nutrient composition or labelling of CPCF; however, there was limited alignment with the guidance from Codex and WHO. No country was fully aligned with the three CPCF‐specific Codex standards/guidelines and only one country was in full alignment with the recommendations related to the protection of breastfeeding from the ‘WHO Guidance on ending the inappropriate promotion of foods for infants and young children’. The findings of the review indicate that the existing national binding legal measures are insufficient to ensure that the CPCF sold as suitable for older infants and young children are nutritionally adequate and labelled in a responsible manner that does not mislead caregivers. Improved and enforced national binding legal measures for CPCF, in alignment with global guidance, are required to ensure that countries protect, promote and support optimal nutrition for children 6–36 months of age.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overpromoted and underregulated: National binding legal measures related to commercially produced complementary foods in seven Southeast Asian countries are not fully aligned with available guidance

Blankenship,

Nguyen,

White

et al. 2023

Maternal & Child Nutrition

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“…Industry actors and labour were largely opposed to the adoption of the tax, arguing for the use of voluntary actions in lieu of a tax, disputing evidence in support of a tax, and overstating the economic harms caused by a tax. This combination of arguing for delaying implementation, attempting to dilute the policy adopted and delegitimising the evidence-based supporting the intervention reflects the industry ‘playbook’ used in other NCD prevention policies [ 25 , 27–29 ]. The strong emphasis on the economic impact of the tax, and resulting job losses, reflected similar rhetoric in other LMIC countries such as Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, where it was argued that a tax would cause significant job losses or other economic harms to the industry [ 6 , 20 , 26 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stakeholder arguments during the adoption of a sugar sweetened beverage tax in South Africa and their influence: a content analysis

Karim

Kruger

Mazonde

et al. 2022

Global Health Action

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Background Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes are recognised as an effective intervention to prevent obesity. More countries are adopting SSB taxes, but the process of the adoption is politically complex. Objective This study aimed to analyse how public participation processes influenced the South African tax. Methods We conducted a content analysis of documents associated with the process of adopting the tax. Records were identified utilising the Parliamentary Monitoring Group database, including draft bills, meeting minutes and written submissions. The records were categorised and then inductively coded to identify themes and arguments. Results We identified six cross-cutting themes advanced by stakeholders: economic considerations, impact on the vulnerable, responsiveness of an SSB tax to the problem of obesity, appropriateness of an SSB tax in South Africa, procedural concerns, and structure of the tax. Stakeholder views and arguments about the tax diverged based on their vested interests. The primary policymaker was most responsive to arguments concerning the economic impact of a tax, procedural concerns and the structure of the tax, reducing the effective rate to address industry concerns. Conclusion Both supportive and opposing stakeholders influenced the tax. Economic arguments had a significant impact. Arguments in South Africa broadly echoed arguments advanced in many other jurisdictions.

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“…After the law was adopted in Chile, PepsiCo and Kellogg's challenged it in the Court. The food industry used similar practices to delay or prevent the adoption of new FoPL in several other countries like Mexico (Crosbie, Carriedo, and Schmidt 2022), Colombia (Mialon, Gaitan Charry, et al 2020), Brazil (Mialon, Khandpur, et al 2020), Malaysia and Vietnam (Pettigrew et al 2022), and South Africa (González 2022). This lobbying has often been co-ordinated by trade associations representing global companies like Nestlé, Kellogg's, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo.…”

Section: Existing Public Policies Across the Globe And Of Potential U...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A discussion of stronger public policies to protect and promote healthy diets: what can the U.S. learn from other countries?

Mialon¹,

Naik²

2023

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The aim of this paper is to contribute to global discussion on public health policies for protecting and promoting healthy diets, as it is advancing in the U.S. This discussion assesses specific cases of successful policy making from several countries across the world, often against industry resistance. We discuss five key public policies and interventions: i) food labeling; ii) marketing restrictions and healthy school food policies; iii) fiscal policies; iv) models for classifying the (un)healthiness of a product; v) interventions to address food industry influence and conflicts of interest in public health policy. The paper also argues how the U.S can adapt or adopt some of these public policies, while also preparing for the challenges from the ultra-processed food industry that may perceive these advances as threats to its business. We conclude the discussion by postulating that the U.S. is primed to advance several of these initiatives that have already been espoused in law and evaluated to be effective in other countries. The U.S. will have unique challenges, as many of the food industry actors have deep political influence on American politics and markets, although these global lessons can enable the legislative, policy, and civil society ecosystems with additional tools and strategies to progress policy movement toward defending people’s health and wellbeing over industry’s influence and profit.

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A review of front-of-pack nutrition labelling in Southeast Asia: Industry interference, lessons learned, and future directions

Cited by 16 publications

References 33 publications

Overpromoted and underregulated: National binding legal measures related to commercially produced complementary foods in seven Southeast Asian countries are not fully aligned with available guidance

Overpromoted and underregulated: National binding legal measures related to commercially produced complementary foods in seven Southeast Asian countries are not fully aligned with available guidance

Stakeholder arguments during the adoption of a sugar sweetened beverage tax in South Africa and their influence: a content analysis

A discussion of stronger public policies to protect and promote healthy diets: what can the U.S. learn from other countries?

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