What is “food reformulation”?

Food reformulation means improving the nutritional content of commonly consumed processed foods and drinks by reducing calories and target nutrients (such as saturated fat, salt and sugar). The goal of reformulation is to reduce target nutrients without increasing the energy content or nutrients of concern to ensure healthier food choices are available to Irish consumers. The Food Reformulation Task Force is responsible for implementing a Reformulation Roadmap with specific targets which will continue to be tracked from initial baseline figures in 2015.

Speaking about the food reformulation workshop, Dr Pamela Byrne, CEO, FSAI said: “Today’s event has been a great opportunity for food businesses to come together and to hear what other businesses are doing to achieve food reformulation targets. In Ireland, 2/3 of the adult population are estimated to be obese or overweight. Obesity reduces life expectancy and people are more likely to get heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and other diseases.  Food reformulation is one of the measures to help tackle obesity and to improve the health and wellbeing of consumers. We look forward to continuing to work with food businesses to ensure key targets are met, which result in healthier food options for consumers and improved health.”

Minister of State for Public Health, Wellbeing and National Drugs Strategy, Frank Feighan TD said: “The Department of Health is delighted to be working with the FSAI to ensure that food companies, such as those who attended today’s workshop, make progress towards reducing key markers in food and drinks. This could make a real difference in offering healthier choices to consumers. The Reformulation Roadmap is a crucial element of A Healthy Weight for Ireland, Ireland’s Obesity Policy and Action Plan. The Action Plan is the result of the Government’s policy to assist its people to live healthier lives and in particular to reduce the levels of overweight and obesity.”

www.fsai.ie

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In its pre-Budget Submission, the group highlighted concerns regarding ongoing price manipulation by tobacco manufacturers in Ireland and called on the Government to end this practice and ensure Budget measures are correctly implemented by tobacco companies.

The CSNA said the current legislation allows cigarette manufacturers to set their own retail price and is resulting in significant Exchequer implications.

It’s calling for the implementation of a number of measures in Budget 2020 to close this financial loophole and ensure the Exchequer is receiving its full due from the sale of tobacco:

• Amendment of the 1996 Finance Act to allow retailers set tobacco retail price
• Banning the sale of large boxes through the Public Health (Tobacco) Act or the amendment of tobacco pricing legislation in the Finance Act 2020
• Reducing the permissible limits of imported duty-paid tobacco

The CSNA says removing price-setting power from the manufacturer and returning it to the Irish retailer, ensuring that tobacco manufacturers cannot leverage larger boxes and per-cigarette pricing tactics and ensuring every pack of cigarettes consumed in Ireland adheres to plain packaging rules will support public health objectives and increase Government tax revenues by over €100 million annually.

Public health measures

It says that while Ireland has made very significant strides in combating tobacco harm through a variety of measures over the past 50 years, continued Budgetary measures and taxation policies such as these can further support Ireland’s ongoing public health efforts.

Speaking at the launch of its Pre-Budget Submission, Vincent Jennings, CEO of the CSNA, said: “If the Government is to have any hope of reaching its target to reduce smoking to less than 5% of the population by 2025, it needs to take a series of actions that go beyond simply increasing excise on tobacco.

“This includes allowing tobacco retailers in convenience, forecourt and newsagents to set the price of tobacco products in the same way that they can set the price of any other product sold in their shop. This is also an important public health intervention – WHO research consistently shows that price is the biggest single determining factor in tobacco consumption.

“A range of measures are available to the Government, and we would call on them to utilise all of these in order to see meaningful reductions in Irish tobacco consumption.”

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