FSA nutrient profiling model 'should be extended'

by Gemma Charles, Marketing 08-Jul-08, 08:00

LONDON - Campaigners are calling for the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) nutrient profiling system to be extended across all media after an independent review panel supported the controversial scheme.

The model informs Ofcom's rules governing the broadcast advertising of 'junk food' during TV programmes watched primarily by children.

This week the FSA revealed that experts it had commissioned to assess the model had deemed the system 'scientifically robust and fit for its intended purpose'.

Although the FSA has simplified how protein is factored into the model - a change that would allow certain cereal brands to advertise to children that previously would have been banned - the system is largely unaltered.

Richard Watts, co-ordinator of Sustain's Children's Food Campaign, argued that the scientific approval meant it was time to extend the model's use. 'It is vital that the rules protecting children from junk-food marketing in magazines and online also includes nutrient profiling,' he said.

Jonathan Horrell, corporate affairs director at Kraft Foods, welcomed the changes regarding the protein cap, but cast doubt on whether the change to the model would encourage the reformulation of existing products.