Declining role of governments in promoting healthy eating: time to rethink the role of the food industry?

Abstract

The increasing incidence of overweight and obesity calls for strategies to influence individuals' lifestyle. There is increasing acceptance of the idea that such strategies should go further than to stress the responsibility of the individual and focus on wider socioeconomic and environmental factors. This is true also for the promotion of healthy eating, and as industry increases its awareness towards corporate social responsibility and societal issues, the actors of the private commercial food sector begin to discover healthy eating as an important theme, which they have to relate to in their strategic planning and management. This paper presents evidence that supports this contention and discusses the implications of the seemingly changed distribution of responsibilities for the promotion of healthy eating between governments and the food industry. From findings in the social sciences it tries to explain why corporate stakeholders start focusing on societal expectations, and why this development may coincide with a decline in government responsibility. Finally, the consequences of this development for the world of nutrition and the food industry are discussed.

The Role of Socializing Agents in Communicating Healthy Eating to Adolescents: A Cross-Cultural Study

“…By identifying their perceptions of healthy eating habits, their perceptions of the various socializing agents/sources communicating with them about healthy eating, and their perceptions of different communication appeals, this study has provided useful information for public health officials and health educators to consider when developing communications targeted at adolescents. As companies and corporations increase their awareness towards corporate social responsibility, some private commercial food companies are beginning to explore healthy eating as an important theme to be included in their corporate strategic plans (Mikkelsen, 2005). The current study therefore also helps private food companies to develop strategies in communicating healthy eating to young consumers.…”

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach as a framework for business involvement in health promotion in the welfare state

“…The contrasting perspectives concerning the nature and scope of CSR, as well as the concerns it raises regarding its desirability for both health promotion policy and practice, highlighted the need for the present research; as stressed by Buse and Lee (2005) the goals, strategies and objectives of the business sector in relation to health need to be further explored and critically assessed. Such examination is considered relevant as to inform and alert policy-makers of the potential underlying lobbying objectives and hidden agendas of CSR activities, other than to discuss optimal involvement in health issues (Mikkelsen, 2005;Fooks et al, 2011;Dorfam et al, 2012). As noted by Wiist (2006) corporate practices provide tangible targets for both advocacy and research, more valuable for policy-making discussion than the debates of market fundamentalism or extreme capitalism.…”

“…In 2006, during the Finnish presidency, the Health in All Policies (HiAP) strategy was formally adopted by the EU as a means to operationalize the notions of SDoHs, healthy public policies and multisectoral action within the EU at the level of public policies (Koivusalo, 2010). As Koivusalo (2010) explains, strengthening the critique by Ziglio et al, the HiAP frame, core to the operationalization of the health promotion approach, has since its first inception The EU has stressed the relevance of multi-stakeholder initiatives involving the industry, calling for collaborations especially with the food industry (Mikkelsen, 2005 …”