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At the last meeting of the European Platform for Diet and Physical Activity, on the 6th October in Brussels, Mars, Media Smart and others gave presentations about their nutrition and media  education  projects.

The majority of public interest NGOs who attend these meetings are concerned about the involvement of the food and beverage industry in education and have said so on numerous occassion. However these concerns are not explicitly conveyed by the Commission when summing up the meetings.

During this particular meeting on education,  the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) did a quick check of the Mars materials and exposed the appalling quality of the information used.  Here is an example showing how a Bounty Bar is made to appear equivalent to an apple. http://info.babymilkaction.org/sites/info.babymilkaction.org/files/MARS Bounty.pdf

In my presentation I tried to outline the risks of such involvement and what industry gains from being allowed such access to children and how it used this to influence policy makers.  Ensuring independent and Objective Information 

 http://ec.europa.eu/health/nutrition_physical_activity/docs/ev20111006_co07_en.pdf

 Here are links to the Mars and Media smart presentations. 

 Mars Clever Naschen Initiative: Tailor-made consumer information for the Turkish community in Germany   http://ec.europa.eu/health/nutrition_physical_activity/docs/ev20111006_co05_en.pdf

Media Smart's Media and Ad Literacy for youth, parents and professionals in the Netherlands

http://ec.europa.eu/health/nutrition_physical_activity/docs/ev20111006_co01_en.pdf

CLICK HERE  for our briefing Tackling Obesity  How companies use education to build trust