Manufacturers urged to improve nutritional content and labelling on products

Minister of State in Foreign Trade and Business Sandra Husbands has challenged local manufacturers and importers to play a greater role in the island’s fight against non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by upgrading product content and labelling.

She charged on Monday that consumers were left in the dark about the unhealthy levels of fats, salts, and sugars in foods and drinks sold locally because some businesses have not provided in-depth labelling on products they put on the market.

“Too many companies are playing the short game by resisting the change to the labelling,” Husbands said, as she urged businesses to work more closely with authorities to improve labelling.

“What we have noted, anecdotally, is that some companies have been using some shortcuts where they have reduced the sugar, advertised the product as low sugar, meanwhile the salt level has jumped through the roof to compensate for taste.”

The minister suggested that the content of some products also needed to be adjusted to be less unhealthy.

She said this reformulation “to arrive at a taste that will sell in the market” would require research and experimentation at an additional cost but insisted it would be beneficial to society overall.

Husbands said the onus was on manufacturers to educate and sensitise their customers on the benefits of changing the taste of some products slightly to make them more healthy.

“A lot of the formulations in Barbados and in the Caribbean are often sweeter because Caribbean people actually like and prefer sweet things, and so they often lace our drinks with higher sugar because this is what we will buy. It’s the taste buds that need the education and this is why the sudden lowering of salt and sugar is not going to work, it’s going to cause a riot,” she said.

“What we must do is set a pace in which there is that gradual adjustment downward, allowing the taste buds to constantly adjust to the taste until it is comfortable. That is how we will get there…. It is a journey but it can be done.”

Husbands made the comments on Monday when she addressed the opening of a two-day workshop hosted by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), on Strategies to Reduce the Salt & Sugar Content of Foods in Barbados, at Hilton Barbados Resort.

She stressed that addressing NCDs within the region was not only a health concern but also had financial and social implications, given the massive resources used to fight health challenges.

“The NCD Alliance has stated that the five NCDs – cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and mental health conditions – will cost an estimated US$47 trillion between 2010 and 2030. That is an average of US$2 trillion per year… It is a crisis.

“The diverting of these critical resources to address health issues means that the government will have less to invest in education and, therefore, in the types of jobs these young people can look forward to. It means less money for sports, for infrastructure, for housing, and the list is endless,” Husbands insisted. (SB)