Benchmarking the nutrition-related commitments and practices of major French food companies

Benchmarking des engagements et pratiques nutritionnels des grandes entreprises alimentaires françaises

Iris van Dam and Stefanie Vandevijvere
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Iris van Dam: UMR PSAE - Paris-Saclay Applied Economics - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement
Stefanie Vandevijvere: Sciensano [Bruxelles] - Pasteur Network (Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur)

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Abstract: Background This study benchmarked and quantitatively assessed the transparency, specificity and comprehensiveness of nutrition-related commitments and related practices of the major companies within the French food industry. Methods To evaluate the nutrition-related commitments and practices across policy domains such as product reformulation, labelling, marketing, and accessibility, the ‘Business Impact Assessment on Obesity and population-level nutrition' (BIA-Obesity) was applied. A total of 33 French food companies were selected using Euromonitor 2018 market share data, including major packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers ( N = 20), quick-service restaurants ( N = 7), and supermarkets ( N = 6). During 2019-2020 the publicly available commitments were collected for each company, scored according to the BIA-Obesity, and company representatives were provided with the opportunity to complete and verify the collected data. The following performance metrics were included to assess company practices: the median Nutri-Score of product portfolios, the proportion of products with Nutri-Score A or B, the percentage of products (not-)permitted to be marketed to children according to the World Health Organisation Europe nutrient profile model and the proportion of ultra-processed food products as determined by the NOVA-classification. In addition supermarket flyers were collected over a 6-months period to assess the healthiness of product promotions. Correlations between commitments and performance metrics were assessed applying the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results Among the selected food companies, 13 companies verified and completed the publicly available data (response rate = 39%). Overall BIA-Obesity scores for company commitments varied between 2 and 74% with a median score of 28%. Scores for packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers were higher than those for supermarkets and quick-service restaurants. The median proportion of foods with Nutri-Score A or B within product portfolios was 38% (range = 1-95%), while the median proportion of non-permitted products was 84% (range = 7-100%) and the median proportion of ultra-processed food products 63% (range = 5-100%). Stronger company commitments did not translate into better performance metrics. Conclusions There is room for significant improvement of both company commitments and performance. Current food industry action does not meet recommended best practices. The French government is urged to regulate food industry practices to create healthier food environments.

Keywords: Business impact assessment; Nutrient profile; Accountability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04083445v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in BMC Public Health, 2022, 22 (1), pp.1435. ⟨10.1186/s12889-022-13780-y⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04083445

DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-13780-y

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