European Commission - Roadmap on Food Reformulation
The circular for the Action Plan implementation regarding Reformulation of Food Products was issued by the General Secretariat of Public Health, aiming to improve the dietary habits of the country’s population and in particular with regard to the Mediterranean diet.
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
The Plan is addressed outside the university institutes and the relevant public services of Greek Association of Industrial Exporters - SEVT (www.sevt.gr) and is structured along four action directions:
The first assesses the situation on the basis of surveys of average daily nutrient intake, mainly in terms of total sugars, industrially produced trans fatty acids and salt per group of foods.
The second one aims to create a database for the synthesis of processed foods, which will include elements of their content in various nutrients, with the intention of initially limiting salt, trans-fatty acids and additional sugars.
The third interrelates the actions that may be taken by the industry in order to reduce the content of the specific ingredients as mentioned above in their products’ formulation.
The fourth refers to the monitoring of the Action Plan and the evaluation of its results, based on the operation of a reference database on food composition, which will be fed with data on relevant food sample analysis, food industry updates, food labels, the relevant data from other EU Member States and official European Commission’s surveys.
Concurrently, there is a voluntary commitment of the Greek Beverage Industries Association, with its recent decision, to reduce sugar by 10% to carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks (0% -24.9% fruit content), iced tea and ready-made coffee , sports and energy drinks of its member companies by 2020, with reference year 2015, based on the commitments of the Union of European Soft Drink Associations in February 2017.