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Sugars, salt, fat, fibre: are packaged foods and soft drinks becoming healthier?
A recent JRC study analysed trends in the nutritional quality of the packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage by assessing the level of sugars, salt, saturated fat and fibre of these products sold in supermarkets across Europe.
All EU Member States provide dietary recommendations for a healthy diet to their citizens. The foods offered in supermarkets need to be safe and are expected to be long lasting, convenient and regardless of their price, of good overall nutritional quality to facilitate adherence to the recommendations and promote health.
Hence, to meet these objectives, Member States and the EU are making efforts to improve the nutritional quality of the food offered to citizens. Our new JRC study assessed the extent to which efforts to improve the supply of healthier foods are succeeding.
The results of the analysis show some progress in Europe, although modest, towards the direction desired by public health proponents. In general, there is a small reduction in salt, sugars and saturated fat sold in packaged products to citizens.
Still, the amount of sugars and salt sold to Europeans citizens via this route remains a concern. Regrettably, there also is little evidence of desired increases in fibre content from the packaged foods on offer. Overall, more efforts are needed to achieve public health objectives.
