In Germany, the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Cem Özdemir, has finalized a measure introducing limits on junk food marketing aimed at children. (1)
This brings closer the formal presentation of the proposal to improve the nutrition of Germany’s youth, declared by the Green politician soon after he took office at the ministry in December 2021 in the government led by Olaf Scholz.
The limits to junk food marketing
The foods in the crosshairs of restrictions are all those with too much fat, sugar and salt, the ill-recommended HFSS, High in fat, sugar and salt, ultra-processed foods. (2)
The measure stipulates for nutritionally imbalanced foods, the prohibition of
- Spread advertisements, from 6 to 11 p.m., in TV programs and social networks(YouTube and Instagram) targeting under-14s and heavily ‘contaminated’ by junk-food influencers
- Put up billboards within a 100-meter radius around schools, kindergartens, playgrounds and children’s recreational facilities.
Obesity and involution
The goal of the measure is to reverse the obesity epidemic plaguing the younger generation. In Germany, 15% of children and young people are overweight. An emergency that in 2019 has already suggested the adoption of the NutriScore on the label.
Further aim is to scale back the burden of ultra-processed and nutritionally unbalanced foods by reviving healthy eating.
Animal welfare and healthy nutrition
Cem Özdemir has always declared his intention to combat the mix of malnutrition and ecological crisis (
Global Syndemic
) by curbing junk-food and in general the policy of low-cost and cheap food, which is bad for health but also bad for the environment and animal welfare. His proposals, moreover, include reaching 30 percent organic land and introducing cameras in slaughterhouses, environments also found to be unfit for workers, as we have seen.
The introduction of limits on junk food marketing is of course contested by junk food producers and their political representatives.
Instead, it is supported by a broad front of physicians and consumer groups, such as the Federal Consumers Association, the Federal AOK Association, and the German Alliance for Noncommunicable Diseases. And it is perfectly in line with the recommendations expressed by WHO in theObesity Report 2022. (3)
The German Food Minister’s proposal, after all, traces the measures taken in the UK, which were also approved by WHO. (4) To find doctors and scientists opposed would be paradoxical.
Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) Kate Konnolly. German minister calls for ban on advertising junk food to children. The Guardian. 28.2.23 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/28/german-minister-calls-for-ban-on-advertising-junk-food-to-children
(2) Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. Ultraprocessed foods, the worst evil. Appeal of scientists in the British Medical Journal. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 16.8.21
(3) Sabrina Bergamini, Dario Dongo. Obesity, childhood obesity, and marketing. WHO report Europe 2022. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 16.6.22
(4) Marta Strinati. WHO chooses UK model to reduce calorie and sugar intakes in the Old Continent. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 2.10.21
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
