Director general of the UK's Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Sylvia Jay last week confirmed the food industry's commitment to improving future health prospects for the British population.
Speaking at the Westminster Diet and Health Forum keynote seminar in London Jay responded to previous calls for industry to show bigger responsibility on issues of public health by stressing the need for a partnership approach to the problems of obesity.
"This is a much bigger, complex, and more serious issue than just one sector of society can tackle. We need to do more than seek to apportion blame. We need to work together - consumers, the FSA, government, the whole food chain - to try to find solutions, if we are to have a hope of success. For our part, we stand ready to do that," said Jay.
However she added that the government needed to increase its role in health information. "From the sector's viewpoint, despite the need to protect individual choice there is clearly an important role for government to play in informing its citizens about food and health, based on sound science. We believe it is our responsibility, asreputable manufacturers, whose livelihood depends on consumers, to work withthem and government, to provide that information objectively."Jay noted that food and drink manufacturers sponsored a huge range of activities to help people, ranging from sports facilities to community development projects.
She also commented on the issue of reducing salt in manufactured foods, something which the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is to place increasing emphasis on, according to FSA chairman Sir John Krebs, speaking at the same event.
"Manufacturers are now working with the FSA to identify products where salt - ormore precisely sodium - reductions have already been achieved and where furtherreductions might be possible, for example in key processed foods such as bread,breakfast cereals, soups and sauces. These are sectors, of course, whichcontribute substantially to children's diets," said Jay.
The keynote speech also outlined manufacturers' responsibilities to ensure food safety. "That is the number one priority - it is not negotiable."
Jay continued that manufacturers must "accept the absolute necessity to comply fully with food and drink legislation and relevant codes of practice, whether to do with production or marketing and respond to consumer demands, because, apart from anything else, if we do not do so, our businesses will fail".