While obesity remains a major public health concern, consumer co-operatives are taking the lead in tackling the medical condition, which affects between 10 to 30% of adults. And, according to the World Health Organisation’s Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (WHO’s COSI), around one third of children aged 6 to 11 years old are overweight or obese.
A new report produced by Euro Coop, the Alliance’s sectoral organisation, gathers the most significant examples of concrete initiatives undertaken by its member organisations in order to encourage healthy habits among consumers. Euro Coop is a founding member of the EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health.
The report -“Tackling Obesity: Consumer Co-operatives Leading the Way” features examples of initiatives from consumer co-operatives across Europe in the areas of food labelling, product reformulation, education and lifestyle, physical activity, as well as advertising as marketing.
“It is our hope that our fellow co-operators and civil society actors will find this report inspiring and that it can serve as a model for other stakeholders in the food chain. Together we can encourage sustainable initiatives, which promote healthy lifestyles and make healthy choices the easiest option,” said Todor Ivanov, secretary general of Euro Coop. The report is available here.
