Enlarge image
Chicken Nuggets and French Fries: Criticism of Fattening Foods for Children
Photo: Tobias Hase / dpa
The consumer organization Foodwatch is calling for legal restrictions on food advertising aimed at children.
According to Foodwatch, voluntary commitments by the food industry in marketing to children are insufficient.
This has shown an investigation.
Foodwatch has tested around 300 products from 16 food companies that have signed a voluntary commitment to responsible marketing for children.
Accordingly, 242 of the 283 examined foods marketed to children, i.e. 85.5 percent, contain too much sugar, fat or salt.
According to the criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO), they are unbalanced and should therefore not be advertised to children, writes Foodwatch.
The organization had already carried out the investigation in 2015.
At that time, the proportion of products that did not comply with WHO recommendations was 89.7 percent.
The follow-up investigation shows that little has changed in recent years.
Products from food companies such as Nestlé, Danone, Kellogg's and Mars were examined, including breakfast cereals, yoghurt with chocolate, chocolate bars, chips and fruit spritzers.
Ice cream, soups and products from fast food chains were also tested.
According to the study, 10 of the 16 manufacturers examined only do children's marketing for products that do not meet WHO recommendations, including Ferrero, Unilever and Coca-Cola.
"Products that are advertised to children with cartoon characters, online competitions and toy gifts are primarily sugar bombs and greasy snacks," says Oliver Huizinga, campaign director at Foodwatch.
"Neither the voluntary commitment to more responsible children's marketing nor the federal government's sugar reduction program have changed anything."
The future government should no longer rely on self-commitments, demands Foodwatch.
You have to anchor a "legal restriction of advertising aimed at children for unbalanced products" in the coalition agreement.
The food association pointed out that factors such as a lack of exercise, a growing social divide and an overall unbalanced diet are far more critical to children's health than advertising.
The corona crisis has exacerbated such problems again.
Last but not least, the parents have a responsibility as role models.
In principle, every food “has its place in a balanced diet”.
Food Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) defended the government initiative launched in 2019.
Since then, the sugar content in children's yoghurts has fallen by 20 percent, and soft drinks for children contain around 35 percent less sugar, their ministry said.
The salt content of sausage and meat products as well as bread and biscuits has been reduced.
In some areas, however, there is still “room for improvement”.
Klöckner continues to rely on voluntary commitments by the economy.
She rejects a soda tax like the one in Great Britain: There is a risk that sugar will be replaced by other sweeteners.
"Then we haven't won anything," she told the Tagesspiegel.
mmq / dpa / AFP