Today, 17 June 2016, the Health Council adopted Council Conclusions on Food Product Improvement, asking member states to have national plans for food product improvement in place by the end of 2017.

The European Heart Network (EHN) welcomes the Council Conclusions, which call for actions that are essential to tackle cardiovascular diseases as well as overweight and obesity.  Increased availability of food products with lower levels of salt, saturated fats, added sugars, and energy value, accompanied by measures to reduce portion size and adequate and consumer-friendly information on the nutritional composition of processed foods, are necessary to guide consumers in making the healthy choice an easy choice.

In the European Union, cardiovascular diseases account for 40% of all deaths, are a major drain on health care resources and cost the Union economies 90 billion euros in production losses and informal care. That is not trivial. 

Susanne Lá¸gstrup, EHN Director, says: “We are pleased that the Health Ministers of Europe emphasise that governments have the responsibility to set public health objectives and that in order to be efficient and reach the majority of the population, in particular children and vulnerable groups, more action is needed on reformulating mainstream products that are consumed by the majority of the European population on a daily basis. We remind the European Commission that strict nutrient profiles for the use of health and nutrition claims provide an excellent tool to promote food product improvement.”

Please click here for the Council Conclusions on Food Product Improvement