Health experts back Barriteau on junk food sponsorship

Health advocates are rallying behind retired UWI Principal Emerita Professor Eudine Barriteau’s sharp criticism of fast-food sponsorship at Junior Kadooment, warning that such corporate partnerships send mixed signals amid Barbados’ growing non-communicable disease (NCD) crisis among children.

Barriteau earlier this week questioned the appropriateness of allowing unhealthy food brands to sponsor the island’s premier children’s Crop Over event.

Echoing her concerns, Dr Kenneth Connell, internist and head of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), told Barbados TODAY the sponsorships undermine national health policies and weaken the credibility of efforts targeting childhood obesity and poor nutrition.

“Of course, I support Professor Barriteau’s comments,” Dr Connell said. “But I’m even more in support of the kinds of questions she has challenged the academy to answer. Barriteau’s comments provoke us to really dissect where we are and what messages we are sending in the NCD advocacy arenas. When I say ‘we’, I mean civil society organisations, academia, the media, and, most importantly, our CARICOM leaders . . . and administration in the region.”

Connell noted that while Barriteau’s focus was Barbados, the contradiction she highlighted is widespread across the region.

“Although it relates to Barbados, it could very well have been any Caribbean country. The fact that she has singled out a contradiction — to use her words — between what is being said and what is being done with the school nutrition policy, and what is actually then happening at the height of Barbados’ Crop Over season, where these companies are sponsoring these bands, is something that none of us should feel comfortable about.”

He also criticised the increasing normalisation of fast-food sponsorships at youth-focused events like inter-school sports, arguing that the industry has strategically embedded itself in cultural and educational spaces.

“The fast-food industry is not stupid. They understand quite well that aligning themselves with a healthy activity or cultural event legitimises themselves as part of society and says to the public that, ‘we aren’t as bad as these people say we are’,” he said.

Chair of the Barbados Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition, Professor Anne St John, shared similar concerns about the aggressive marketing of unhealthy foods to children in both school and cultural settings.

“With regard to Professor Barriteau’s comments, we absolutely agree,” she told Barbados TODAY. “We’ve been deeply concerned about the sponsorship of major children’s events like sports and Junior Kadooment by companies promoting unhealthy foods and beverages.”

St John said the coalition has been in discussions with government ministries to redirect sponsorships away from junk food and toward neutral, non-food corporate partners such as wholesalers and service providers.

“People are receiving mixed messages — the students, the parents, and the general public,” she explained. “We’re telling children they shouldn’t be consuming sugary drinks or unhealthy snacks, but then the same companies behind those products are sponsoring the very events they love. It’s a dangerous contradiction.”

She also renewed calls for the removal of unhealthy food and drink marketing in and around schools, especially during events when children are most exposed.

St John also raised concern that the National Vending Bill, which would govern what vendors outside school compounds can sell to students, has yet to be proclaimed despite being drafted in 2021.

“It has not yet been proclaimed, and this is now four years. It just hasn’t seemed to be a priority for whatever reason,” she said, adding that it “remains a mystery to those who are advocating for our children why this Bill has not been proclaimed.”

Meanwhile, Dr Connell expressed disappointment at the regional political leadership’s silence on health issues during the recent CARICOM Heads of Government meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

“It is ironic that I’m in Port of Spain – the birthplace of the 2007 Port of Spain Declaration on NCDs – and yet 20 years later, the latest CARICOM communiqué didn’t even mention NCDs,” he said. “They talked about CARIFESTA, inter-regional travel, airfares, and crime. But not a word on health. That sends a worrying signal about the priorities of our regional leaders.”

shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb