 |
|
|
|
|
|
Call to stop selling junk food to kids
|
|
|
Sat, Mar 15, 2008
NST
|
|
|
|
|
>HOW many times have your children pestered you to drive to the nearest fast-food outlet for a free toy that comes with the "food"? If you cannot count the number of times, you are just one of thousands of Malaysian parents who have become victims of a global marketing effort.
So effective are fast-food advertisements, especially on television, experts warn that children's dietary habits are being formed by marketers.
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) policy and research manager Cheah Chee Ho said multinational companies have huge budgets directed at marketing "unhealthy" meals while devoting only 10 per cent of their spending on educating people on health eating.
Consumers International (CI), a consumer movement of 220 member organisations in 115 countries, is actively proposing restrictions on the scope and scale of junk food marketing to children across the globe.
The theme for this year's World Consumer Rights Day is "Junk Food Generation -- the CI campaign to stop the marketing of unhealthy food to children".
Cheah said marketing could create brand loyalty among children who would favour junk food as they did not have a sense of what was good or bad.
"Children will go for what's attractive and interesting without realising the harmful stuff they are consuming," he said.
He said the government should impose stringent rules in food marketing, especially for food that is high in fat, salt and sugar.
"Although some fast-food retailers display nutritional information on their menu, they do not include warnings on excessive food intake.
"What's worse, these types of food also contain colouring and preservatives."
Cheah said the government should institute a "traffic light" food-labelling system to boost consumer awareness.
The traffic light system provides information on the amount of specific ingredients in food using a colour-coding system.
Red, orange and green guide to nutrition, with red representing food high in sugar and green representing food low in fat.
"It's easier for consumers to control their diet and indirectly it will also prompt marketers to formulate healthier versions of their products," Cheah said, adding that the system was currently used in the United Kingdom.
Fomca will be organising a "Lunch Box Challenge" on Wednesday to highlight the impact of food marketing strategies on children.
|
|
| READERS' POSTINGS |
| |
|
STORY INDEX
|
|
|
|
|
|
