Report

Where has the fruit and veg gone?, asks Innocent

Shaun Weston14 Mar 2011

Avoidance of ‘5-​a-​day’ means the UK’s ‘Responsibility Deal’ misses the single most important point, says Innocent Drinks.

Innocent Drinks has responded to the first commitments from the UK government’s new ‘Responsibility Deal’, and argues that by not including 5-​a-​day, it missed the single most important point.

Richard Reed, co-​founder of Innocent, says: “We had concerns about the process used in the development of the Responsibility Deal and these have shown true. The result is a set of recommendations that skirt the periphery of the biggest issue: that only 1 in 3 adults is getting enough fruit and veg. Getting 5-​a-​day is the single most important dietary change that people can make, saving 15,000 lives a year in the UK alone. Yet, it’s crazy that 5-​a-​day doesn’t feature anywhere in this first set of commitments.

“This first set of pledges could have gone a lot further. In the face of escalating food costs, we would have liked to have seen assurances on making healthier food and drinks more affordable.”

Given the nature of the companies that inputted into the Responsibility Deal, Innocent was worried that it would miss the most important issue of 5-​a-​day. As a result, Innocent has published an alternative viewpoint to what could be done to improve diets in the UK.

The company’s ‘Orange Paper’ was based on a roundtable discussion with nine independent experts that made a series of recommendations, none of which are covered in the Responsibility Deal.

Within the Orange Paper, Innocent recommends that:

  • The government makes healthier choices more affordable by exploring fiscal or public health interventions to make such food and drinks are more accessible and affordable for consumers.
  • The government rebalances the messages aimed at children by maintaining stringent restrictions on the advertising of unhealthy food and drinks to children, and ensuring that NGOs or those in the food industry that make healthier products don’t fall foul of such restrictions.
  • The government makes it easier for people to reach their 5-​a-​day by reviewing the scheme so that it includes composite foods such as soups and ready-​made meals that contain fruit or veg.
  • The media make better use of credible and qualified nutrition professionals to underpin their communications, by including more science and evidence-​based reporting of nutrition or public health.

The full Orange Paper PDF can be downloaded here.

Vanessa Hattersley RNutr, RD, Innocent Drinks’ company dietician, says: “Recent figures confirm that half of Europe is overweight and that the UK is the heaviest European country. When it comes to improving health through diet, nobody can argue the benefits of an individual achieving their 5-​a-​day. Innocent feels now is the time to provide workable solutions that improve the health of the nation and hope to see pledges on fruit and vegetables in the near future.”

Expert panel

The independent expert panel, from which Innocent’s Orange Paper is drawn, discussed ways that could help improve the public’s health and fruit and veg intake, weighing up the factors that influence people’s food choices and debating whether intervention initiatives work, all with the hope of making healthy eating easier for all. The panel was made up of:

  • Sheila Dillon, presenter of the Food Programme, BBC Radio 4
  • Ian Campbell, GP and obesity specialist
  • Gill Fine, independent public health nutritionist
  • Jason Halford, health psychologist, University of Liverpool
  • Anne De Looy, professor of dietetics, University of Plymouth
  • David Marshall, professor of marketing and consumer behaviour, University of Edinburgh
  • Maureen Rice, editorial director, Cedar Communications
  • Jane Symons, media consultant, journalist and author
  • Bruce Traill, professor of food economics, University of Reading.

Source: Innocent Drinks

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