Sustainability and health in the food and drink industry: reality or lip service?
What Sustainability and Health is there in the Food and Drink Industry?
Supermarkets, food manufacturers and fast food chains are making limited progress on health and sustainability, according to research by the Belgian health institute Sciensano as part of the European FEAST project. This process results in the development of scorecards for each company to enable comparison at a sector level both nationally and internationally. The project clearly highlights areas in which companies are demonstrating leadership in the prevention of obesity, and indicates specific areas for improvement at a company, sector and industry level. This scientific survey regularly evaluates the largest Belgian, French and European food companies.
Unhealthy food environments are a major factor influencing obesity. Moreover, the food system in Belgium is responsible for about 20 % of total greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, for the second time, Sciensano examined the commitments of 33 supermarket chains, fast food restaurants and food producers in terms of nutrition, health and sustainability.
The first study took place in 2019, unfortunately the institute does not see much improvement since. ‘Progress usually remains limited,’ says researcher Stefanie Vandevijvere. ‘There are also companies doing worse. Overall, the food environment remains unhealthy, and we know this leads to unhealthy eating patterns. So it is up to the government to take the necessary measures to make the food environment healthier.’
At supermarkets, the study sees a steady improvement in the nutritional quality of private label products. However, unhealthy food still dominates the shelves. Information on labels has improved, but the composition of food products has not become healthier.
Fast food chains communicate more about the nutritional information, however overall improvement is very limited. Commitments to reduce the marketing of unhealthy meals are lacking. On top of this the supply of fast food in Belgium has increased significantly.
Some good news hence: on sustainability many companies do score better. That makes sense, says Vandevijvere: ‘For sustainability, there is an economic incentive: using less energy or packaging material also reduces the costs for the company.’ For health, that economic incentive is mostly missing. The study also concludes there is no relationship between scores for sustainability and scores for healthy eating.
Which companies are showing the way? Among supermarkets, Delhaize leads the way, with a score of 65%, followed by Colruyt (53%) and Lidl (51%), whilst Aldi (42%) and Carrefour (41%) lag behind. The sector’s poor median score of 51% shows that substantial improvement is needed.
Among manufacturers, Danone leads the rankings, with a score of 82%, followed by Nestlé, McCain and Coca-Cola.
McDonald’s is the top student in the class of fast food restaurants – albeit only with a score of only 32%, while the recently declared bankrupt Lunch Garden is the straggler with barely 2%.
Sciensano concludes that appropriate regulation by governments is needed to make progress on health, starting with the sectors and areas that are the worst performers, such as fast food restaurants. Also focussing on advertising which still promotes unhealthy food and often targets children, should be a attention point.
Food and drink industry producers’ economic challenges of the last years have been tough, with inflation and increasing labour costs, high raw material prices and energy costs. Combining this with investments on health and sustainability remains the challenge, according to Philip Horemans of Green Seed Belgium. “Especially in health, companies need to see the USP, the retailers and consumers the added value. With an economic incentive via correct pricing the process of health improvement will be accelerated”.
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