International Symposium on Understanding the Double Burden of Malnutrition for Effective Interventions

The Zambia Good Food Certification mark - Fighting the Double Burden through certification marks for nutritious foods

Not scheduled

15m

Boardroom A (IAEA, Vienna)

Oral Oral Abstract Presentations - Policy actions

Speaker

Mr Raphael Siwiti (World Food Programme)

Description

THE GOOD FOOD SEAL/LOGO

What is it?

A mark or seal that will go on eligible products that meet predefined criteria across the various food groups to help consumers identify nutritious foods in store. The Logo is being developed by the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Business Network (housed within World Food Programme Zambia), together with the Zambia National Food & Nutrition Commission and Zambia Bureau of Standards.

It fits within the goal of improving nutrition awareness and demand as described in the SUN Business Network Zambia strategy, as well as the Zambia National Food & Nutrition Strategic Plan 2017-2021. The project aims to develop a front-of-pack Nutrition mark or seal to help consumers identify nutritious foods in-store. During roll-out, the logo will be accompanied by a nationwide marketing campaign aimed to create awareness surrounding good nutrition and buzz around the logo, especially in urban and peri-urban areas.

The nutrition brand logo aims to:

1. Introduce a simple, positive mark to ‘’Help Zambian people make better food choices’’ in store with the objective of increasing intake of micronutrients and reducing consumption of ingredients that lead to overweight and obesity and resulting non-communicable diseases (NCDs)
2. Reduce overweight & obesity, NCDs, and micronutrient deficiencies
3. Encourage food companies to reformulate existing products and develop new ones with a healthier product composition

Project Objective: Develop and roll out a Good Nutrition Logo on foods that meet established nutrition-related standards to increase ease of identifying nutritious products for consumers.

Project rationale

The project is based on initial research and data which indicates that:

• Nutrition knowledge and awareness is limited
• Consumer demand for nutritious foods is low
• Availability of nutritious products is inadequate
• Junk food is cheap, fast, and everywhere

Current Progress

The Good Nutrition project has made significant progress so far including:

• Completed development of criteria for the logo in the first quarter of 2017
• Finalzed the graphic design for the logo including testing of consumer intepretation of the symbol through Focus Group Discussions (FGD)
• Completed a food consumption patterns survey which will inform the communications campaign strategy
• Mobilized resources to implement the Good Food Logo commencing mid-2018
• Negotiation and agreement with a government agency through which the certification mark will be implemented ensuring sustainability

Next Steps

1. Formalising ownership, and trademark of the certification mark and for the implementation agency to implement
2. Identify Compliant Products
3. Recruit new companies to apply for the logo
4. Initiate learning exchanges with front-of-pack seals from other countries