Minister pushes for warning labels in fight against chronic diseases

Minister in the Ministry of Health and Wellness with responsibility for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) and Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) Dr Sonia Browne has suggested that manufacturers of packaged foods and beverages may have to be forced into front-of-package warning labeling.

Speaking during Monday’s CBC Presents, A Conversation About Sugar in the Barbadian Society discussion sponsored by the  Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados and the Barbados Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition, Dr Browne said she fully agreed that warning labeling is needed as one of the measures to fight against the NCDs health crisis plaguing the island.

The medical practitioner argued that it is a reality that many consumers do not understand the details on the labeling at the back of packages and drinks.

“People can more relate to a warning label saying high-salt, high-fat, high-sugar, or on the good side, low-fat, low-salt, low-sugar,” she said

Noting the push-back from the manufacturers and wholesalers, the minister said: “I don’t say it needs to be, it has to be instituted because we basically are facing an NCD pandemic. Yes, COVID has taken a toll on the country, but this is the time now where NCDs need to take a front seat, or at least the second in line after the COVID,” Dr Browne said.

According to the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) front-of-package warning labeling represents one of the key policy tools of a comprehensive strategy to regulate environments where obesity tends to be prevalent.

PAHO also states that scientific evidence shows that octagon-shaped front-of-package nutritional warnings indicating if a product is “high in” one or more critical nutrients, is the best-performing system to allow consumers to correctly, quickly and easily identify products with unhealthy nutritional profiles.

Dr Browne agreed that the introduction of primarily healthy foods at state-owned institutions is one of the steps that can be taken to address the issue of NCDs. She added that Barbados should also become an exercise-friendly society making it a norm for Barbadians to get active.

“I think it is a timely manner now that the Government should take hold of this process, which we have done. We saw recently that the Prime Minister instituted a tax of a further 10 per cent on the already existing 10 per cent on sugar-sweetened beverages. This is a good step in the right direction to ensure that we take the NCDs issue, obesity, cancers, the whole gamut of them more seriously,” she said.

Dr Browne gave the assurance that the Ministry of Health was working around-the-clock to get the message across that Barbadians need to consume a low-sugar, low-salt diet. (AH)