Call for action on food warning labels

A regional call to action is being made for Octagonal High-In Front of Package Warning labels across the Caribbean.

Insisting that Barbadians should understand exactly what was in the foods they are consuming due to the population’s high rate of non-communicable diseases, Public Health Researcher Christopher Laurie reiterated that the labels empowered consumers in understanding “what is good for me and what isn’t”.

“The labels are unambiguous, easy to identify and help you to see what is in these products, and why this is important is because we all know that there are some nutrients of concern including salts, sugars, fats and the list goes on, and these high-in warning labels help you to see if your products are high in sugar, high in fat or high in salt,” he stated.

Laurie sought to make it clear that the labels were not an attempt to hurt manufacturers and businesses but to safeguard the health of the public.

“We are not trying to undermine or put businesses out of work. We want the consumer, at the end of the day, to understand what they are taking in. We know that upwards of 84 per cent of premature deaths in Barbados are attributable to non-communicable diseases. The conditions like diabetes, hypertension, obesity and diet play heavily into this as a contributing factor. You need to eat to live, so the more that the consumer can understand what is good for them and know what is best results in not only prolonging life, but also increasing the quality of life,” he stated.

Noting that reading nutritional facts was confusing to the average consumer, Laurie said the octagonal labels would make choices much easier.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY as members of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition Childhood Obesity Prevention and the Childhood Civil Society Organisation Action Network sought to raise the public’s awareness of the movement while at Independence Square on Saturday, he described the support so far as “overwhelming”.

Noting that the call to action also occurred in Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, he said that these countries were voting on whether or not to have these labels put on foods and beverages.

“This is just one of the many activities that are being carried out throughout the world and has overwhelming support. We know from doing our CADRES opinion poll when we looked at the Barbados population that Barbadians want these measures,” he added.

(JB)