CASEFINDINGS FROM INTERVIEWS WITH DANISH FOOD SECTOR EXECUTIVES ON THEIR RESPONSIBILIT IN COUNTERACTING OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY
Special Symposium - Innovations in Food Technology (LMC Congress)
Innovations in Food Technology - Poster Session (LMC/Food - P1)
Keywords: healthy eating, governments, food industry, corporate nutritional responsibility
The increasing incidence of overweight and obesity (WHO 2004) have placed preventive strategies on the top of the public health nutrition agenda in many countries. Governmental authorities and institutions try to influence the behaviour of citizens towards healthier eating habits and lifestyles. Thus governments have tried to increase awareness and knowledge about healthy eating and thereby influencing the food choice. But according to contemporary political science modern “network” societies experience a development in which governments, NGOs and industry interact and “govern” in new way. In the case of counteracting obesity and overweight the role of non-public actors such as industry and trade organisation has increasingly been getting attention. Public health experts have mostly been sceptical about the role industry could play in promoting a healthy diet. On the other hand it is a fact that food industry increasingly is engaging in private nutritional or diet related schemes. This kind of self-regulation is the dominant way of EU regulation in a number of adjacent areas, e.g. food safety and environmental standards. In order to explore the nature of the possible increasing engagement of food industry a study was conducted among Danish food sector stakeholders who had participated in the Danish Obesity Summit (www.fedetopmoede.dk). The aim of the study was to analyse what kind of responsibility Danish food industry executives see as necessary in relation to overweight and obesity. The focus was on identification of types of ongoing initiatives and mapping of these stakeholders’ views on necessary additional initiatives. Furthermore focus was on their views on who should take such initiatives. The study was based on a round of qualitative interviews with 16 of the commercial participants among the 48 participants in the Danish Obesity Summit 2005. The interviews were telephone interviews of around 30 minutes. The analysis shows differences in the perception of the necessary initiatives and the roles of different stakeholders in relation to overweight and obesity. Results show that there is a tendency that the more the products that the interview person is responsible for, or representing is in focus as contributing to overweight and obesity the more is the person in favour of giving the consumers the responsibility in avoiding OO. Furthermore the person sees the role of the government as primarily providing information and not as having more active roles like supporting product development or implementing different levels of tax on different types of food. The findings suggest that there is a need for more research and debate on which policy measures can be used to counteract unhealthy eating.
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Presented Wednesday 19, 13:30 to 15:00, in session Innovations in Food Technology - Poster Session (LMC/Food - P1).
