Nutrient profile panel told to rip up model and start again

Dairy bosses are calling on the FSA to scrap the Nutrient Profiling Model underpinning Ofcom's restrictions on advertising food to kids and target specific problem products such as sweets and crisps instead.

On 20 September, an independent panel of experts set up by the FSA is due to decide how a review of the model should be conducted and when a six-week consultation should start.

Dairy UK, which has supported The Grocer's Weigh It Up! campaign calling for nutrient profiling to be reviewed, said it would urge the panel to rip up the model and start again.

Dairy UK technical director Ed Komorowski said he would tell the panel categorising foods such as cheese as junk food was scientifically unsound.

"It comes back to the concept of whether the NPM can work at all," he said. "We should be targeting the kids who are of concern and the foods causing the problem - as opposed to a blanket system based on fat, salt and sugar levels."

He added that kids did not tend to overindulge on cheese and that it encouraged them to eat other healthy foods such as veg and pasta. "These things are deadly boring on their own. We need to think about a balanced diet," he said.

The Nutrient Profiling Model demonises wholesome foods by measuring fat, salt and sugar on a 100g portion basis. Nutritious products eaten in smaller quantities - including cheese - are considered HFSS foods and can't be advertised to kids.

In the wake of The Grocer's campaign, the FSA announced a review of the model. The review panel members have now been named. It will be chaired by Professor Mike Kelly, public health excellence centre director at NICE. Professor Judy Buttriss (British Nutrition Foundation) and Dr Susan Jebb (Medical Research Council), who sat on the original group that drew up the NPM, will sit on the panel for "continuity purposes", the FSA said.

New faces include Dr Siân Robinson (University of Southampton), Professor Janet Cade (University of Leeds), Alison Nelson (British Dietetic Association) and Professor Annie Anderson (University of Dundee).