I propose to take Questions Nos. 772 to 774, inclusive, together as they all relate to the FDI/Creme Global Reformulation Project Report.
The food industry body, Food Drink Ireland (FDI) have been providing verbal updates to the Special Action Group on Obesity (SAGO) on their reformulation work regularly over the years. In November 2015, they presented the draft FDI/Creme Global Reformulation Project results to the Special Action Group on Obesity in November 2015. Representatives on SAGO agreed that a validation process was required and suggested that FDI refer the Report to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) for this purpose. The FDI followed this advice and the FDI/Creme Global Reformulation Project Report was published in 2016 and is available on the FDI website.
In relation to the food industry/ FSAI liaison, Food Drink Ireland (FDI) meet with FSAI periodically at the industry's request to seek their input into the industry's reformulation work and they also consulted the FSAI on the modelling used to predict the health impact of these reductions in fat, sugar and salt in foods and drinks.
The FSAI have been validating food industry salt reduction work for many years by sampling foods from the market and having them analysed in the HSE Public Analysts Laboratory in Galway. These data are published annually and are available on the FSAI web site. The FSAI has only recently started to look at validation of the FDI sugar and fat reduction work and have, in the first instance, been developing baseline data on yogurts and breakfast cereals based on labelled data. A report on this work is expected to be published later this year.
Reformulation information on reduction of sugar in still and carbonated drinks comes from the food industry report: Estimating the impact of reformulation and the introduction of low and no cal beverage products by FDI members on the Irish population, 2016 – a supplementary report published in line with the FDI/Creme Global Reformulation Project Report. The FDI/Creme Global Report and this supplementary Report covers the period from 2005-2012. Currently data are being collected and verified for 2013 onwards.