The Food Standards Agency's saturated fat campaign has avoided shock tactics, but do tough reformulation targets lie in its wake, asks Ronan Hegarty
Suppliers can breathe a sigh of relief this week. The FSA has toned down the sort of shock tactics it used in its salt-reduction campaign to launch a more measured campaign against saturated fat consumption.
Instead of scaring consumers by showing them what clogged up arteries look like, it has emulated recent health-related ads featuring cartoon and Plasticine figures by going for something more figurative - a woman pouring a jug of fat down the sink, then examining her blocked U-bend as the voiceover warns: "If saturated fat can clog this pipe, imagine what it's doing to yours."
However, while the tone of the campaign has been welcomed by the industry, concerns remain over the FSA's consultation this spring on whether reformulation targets should be set. There are also fears hard-up consumers could get mixed messages following recent campaigns encouraging them to buy cheaper meat cuts.
The biggest gripe comes from the British Pig Executive, which claims the red meat industry is being unfairly targeted. The FSA's guidance claims that meat and meat products are the second-highest contributor (22%) to saturated fat in the UK diet (dairy products including cheese at 24% are number one). However, Bpex head of marketing Chris Lamb says that bundling up fresh meat including poultry, meat pies and ready meals in this way gives undue prominence to meat as a source of saturated fat.
Only a third of this is fresh red meat, he claims. "We can't walk away from the obesity debate, but the continued use of demonising tactics for fresh meat is disappointing," he says.
Lamb also expressed concerns that consumers were receiving mixed messages about what they should be eating. The FSA campaign urges people to eat leaner meat, yet in his recent Channel 4 special, Jamie Saves Our Bacon, the celebrity chef called on supermarkets to stock and promote cheaper, fattier cuts of pork including belly, shoulder and neck.
In the current economic climate, consumers will struggle to afford leaner, more expensive cuts of meat, says Lamb. "How can you tell consumers to move to higher-costing products when disposable incomes are being increasingly squeezed?"
Some dairy industry figures have also reacted angrily, complaining that the category's health benefits are being ignored. "Cheddar cheese does have satfat," admits Arthur Reeves, external affairs director at Cathedral City maker Dairy Crest. "But it is also a great source of calcium, phosphorus and vitamin A."
He adds that Dairy Crest responded to the health concerns two years ago when it launched Cathedral City Lighter, which now makes up 10% of the brand's sales.
Dairy UK agrees that consumers are already moderating their intake of high satfat foods. "The FSA is advising consumers to switch to lower-fat milk, which most already are," says director of communications Sam Fortescue. "Semi-skimmed currently accounts for 64% of the market."
Others are sanguine about the ad, but wary of the prospect of reformulation. Producers of cakes, biscuits and snack foods are particularly worried about the possibility of stringent reformulation targets and deadlines, says Food and Drink Federation director of food safety and science Helen Munday. The introduction of formal targets would be a mistake, she argues: "This can be an expensive, time-consuming process for manufacturers and of course all this information is there for consumers on packs."
Though some of the FSA's advice is "common sense", the FSA will need to keep the industry on side if it wants to achieve its goal, she says. "It was good to see the FSA acknowledge the good practice and recent changes made by the industry," she says. "But it needs to try and maintain this goodwill."
Suppliers can breathe a sigh of relief this week. The FSA has toned down the sort of shock tactics it used in its salt-reduction campaign to launch a more measured campaign against saturated fat consumption.
Instead of scaring consumers by showing them what clogged up arteries look like, it has emulated recent health-related ads featuring cartoon and Plasticine figures by going for something more figurative - a woman pouring a jug of fat down the sink, then examining her blocked U-bend as the voiceover warns: "If saturated fat can clog this pipe, imagine what it's doing to yours."
However, while the tone of the campaign has been welcomed by the industry, concerns remain over the FSA's consultation this spring on whether reformulation targets should be set. There are also fears hard-up consumers could get mixed messages following recent campaigns encouraging them to buy cheaper meat cuts.
The biggest gripe comes from the British Pig Executive, which claims the red meat industry is being unfairly targeted. The FSA's guidance claims that meat and meat products are the second-highest contributor (22%) to saturated fat in the UK diet (dairy products including cheese at 24% are number one). However, Bpex head of marketing Chris Lamb says that bundling up fresh meat including poultry, meat pies and ready meals in this way gives undue prominence to meat as a source of saturated fat.
Only a third of this is fresh red meat, he claims. "We can't walk away from the obesity debate, but the continued use of demonising tactics for fresh meat is disappointing," he says.
Lamb also expressed concerns that consumers were receiving mixed messages about what they should be eating. The FSA campaign urges people to eat leaner meat, yet in his recent Channel 4 special, Jamie Saves Our Bacon, the celebrity chef called on supermarkets to stock and promote cheaper, fattier cuts of pork including belly, shoulder and neck.
In the current economic climate, consumers will struggle to afford leaner, more expensive cuts of meat, says Lamb. "How can you tell consumers to move to higher-costing products when disposable incomes are being increasingly squeezed?"
Some dairy industry figures have also reacted angrily, complaining that the category's health benefits are being ignored. "Cheddar cheese does have satfat," admits Arthur Reeves, external affairs director at Cathedral City maker Dairy Crest. "But it is also a great source of calcium, phosphorus and vitamin A."
He adds that Dairy Crest responded to the health concerns two years ago when it launched Cathedral City Lighter, which now makes up 10% of the brand's sales.
Dairy UK agrees that consumers are already moderating their intake of high satfat foods. "The FSA is advising consumers to switch to lower-fat milk, which most already are," says director of communications Sam Fortescue. "Semi-skimmed currently accounts for 64% of the market."
Others are sanguine about the ad, but wary of the prospect of reformulation. Producers of cakes, biscuits and snack foods are particularly worried about the possibility of stringent reformulation targets and deadlines, says Food and Drink Federation director of food safety and science Helen Munday. The introduction of formal targets would be a mistake, she argues: "This can be an expensive, time-consuming process for manufacturers and of course all this information is there for consumers on packs."
Though some of the FSA's advice is "common sense", the FSA will need to keep the industry on side if it wants to achieve its goal, she says. "It was good to see the FSA acknowledge the good practice and recent changes made by the industry," she says. "But it needs to try and maintain this goodwill."
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