Food Standards Agency Board responds to Ofcom consultation

Thursday 15 June 2006

Ref: 2006/0657

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) Board today agreed its response to the Ofcom consultation on options for tightening the controls relating to the broadcast advertising of food to children. The Board expressed disappointment in the options put forward in the consultation and agreed that none of the options provide a sufficient response to the problem of the imbalance in television advertising.

The FSA Board response to the Ofcom consultation includes the following points:

The Board agrees that any restrictions must protect children up to the age of 15 years old, particularly as children between 9-15 years often make their own food choices and purchases. The consultation's current options only focus on protecting children up the age of nine.
The Board supports a pre-9pm watershed on advertisements for products high in fat, salt or sugar, which would offer a practical means of extending protection to older children and would be consistent with other broadcasting controls.
The Board does not support any options that would restrict advertising of all foods, including foods such as fruit and vegetables, which would conflict with the promotion of healthy eating. Currently, only one of the consultation's options uses the Agency's Nutrient Profiling model to ensure that restrictions only apply to foods that are high in fat, salt or sugar. Underpinning the restrictions with the Nutrient Profiling model would also provide an incentive for industry to reformulate their products to reduce fat, salt and sugar.
Furthermore, if industry or any other party proposes a workable and effective �fourth option�, the Board requests that any viable approach will be subject to consultation with other interested parties.

Deirdre Hutton, Chair of the Food Standards Agency said: 'Children are targeted every day with messages that promote foods that are high in fat, salt or sugar, and the Hastings Review clearly showed that this does have an influence on children's food choices. With a quarter of all 11-15 year olds now facing obesity, we have to be sure that any restrictions on advertising are aimed at children of all ages to have a real effect in helping to reverse this trend. This includes making sure that we do not inadvertently restrict the positive promotion of healthy foods.'

Notes for editors

The report Does Food Promotion Influence Children? A Systematic Review of the Evidence was produced for the Food Standards Agency by Professor Gerard Hastings and his team at the University of Strathclyde Centre for Social Marketing and published in September 2003. The aim of the research was to review and critically appraise the evidence available on the effect of a range of promotional activities on the eating behaviour of children and draw conclusions on their effect relative to other influences on eating behaviour. An executive summary of the review can be found at the link below.

The Nutrient Profiling model was developed by the Agency to provide Ofcom with a tool for for categorising foods on the basis of their nutrient content and aid them in its work of reducing the amount of advertising directed at children for foods high in saturated fat, sugar or salt. This fulfilled commitments in both the Government's White Paper: Choosing Health and the FSA�s Action Plan on Food Promotions and Children�s Diets. The model�s development was overseen by an expert working group including independent nutritionists and dietitians, members of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), and representatives from industry and consumer groups.

The Board's response to the Ofcom consultation was originally discussed at the FSA's closed Board Meeting in May 2006 in order to meet Ofcom's previous consultation deadline of 6 June. However, Ofcom have since extended this deadline to the 30 June, enabling the FSA Board to discuss and agree the response in its June open session. The draft minutes of the May closed discussion, background papers and an audio transcript of this discussion are available at the link below.

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Food Standards Agency Board responds to Ofcom consultation

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