Brussels, Dec. 11 - Leading companies in Europe's vast food and drinks industry have agreed to change their policy on advertising for children, setting standards on nutritional content to encourage healthier lifestyles, they said on Tuesday.
The move followed recent calls by the European Union for the food industry to use commercial communications to support parents in making the right diet and lifestyle choices for their children, the 11 companies said in a joint statement.
They agreed not to advertise food and drink products on television programmes, Web sites or in print media where children under the age of 12 could be seen as a target audience, except for products that met specific nutrition criteria.
Neither would they engage in any commercial communications related to food and drink products in primary schools, except where specifically requested by or agreed with the school administration for educational purposes, the statement said.
The companies, which together account for around two-thirds of cash spent each year on food and drink advertising in the EU, would do this voluntarily, by the end of 2008.
They include Coca-Cola Co, Groupe Danone, Burger King, Kellogg, Kraft Foods Inc, Mars Inc, Nestle, PepsiCo Inc and Unilever.
Each agreed to publish its policy commitments on child advertising on a special Web site during the next 12 months.
EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou has opted for a self-regulation approach to obesity, which he has labelled the greatest health threat facing the European Union.
Children are a particular problem area.
According to data from the European Commission, the EU executive, the number of EU children classed as overweight or obese has risen from 14 million in 2005 to 22 million this year.
Obesity has more than trebled in many EU countries since the 1980s, the World Health Organisation says, while obesity-related illnesses account for up to 7 percent of EU healthcare costs.