18 MAY 2018
NAMED &
SHAMED
New Zealand food
manufacturers have
been named and shamed
in a controversial new
study that says some
companies are not doing
enough to reduce the
largest cause of ill health
in this country…unhealthy
diets. Is the industry really
taking this seriously?
Kathryn Calvert reports.
WHEN young 5th year University of
Auckland medical student Apurva
Kasture decided to look at the
nutrition commitment of 15 local
packaged food manufacturers, two beverage manufacturers,
two supermarkets and six quick-service
restaurants in New Zealand, she didn’t quite
expect what she found.
Assessing company policies across six key
domains – obesity prevention and nutrition,
corporate nutrition strategy, formulation,
labelling, promotion, accessibility and
relationships with other organisations
up until the end of last year – she
found a disturbing variability in effort.
Although encouraged by the
engagement of many companies
and the steps they were making
towards more positive outcomes,
Kasture was also dismayed at the
reticence of other companies that
needed to ‘pull their finger out’.
“Some companies have taken positive
steps in response to pressure
from society to improve their
products with Nestlé, Fonterra,
Coca-Cola, Mars and Unilever
COVER STORY