Recent STOP study first to apply BIA-Obesity tool in European context
The STOP project (Science and Technology in Childhood Obesity Policy) began in 2018, and is now in its final few months. To date, over 50 scientific papers have been published as part of the project.
A recent STOP study, published in the ‘International Journal of Public Health’, is the first to apply the Business Impact Assessment on Obesity and Population Nutrition (BIA - Obesity) in the European context. The BIA-Obesity tool provides a framework to benchmark food and beverage company policies and commitments related to obesity and population nutrition.
Applying the BIA-Obesity tool, the STOP study involved the quantitative assessment of a total of 30 companies in Europe.
This included the publicly available nutrition related commitments made by the largest packaged food and beverage manufacturers, supermarkets, and quick service restaurants.
It was found that most selected companies recognised their commitments to improving food environments. Examples of best practice include providing nutritional information online and making specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound (SMART) targets within their overreaching nutrition strategy.
This European assessment study strengthens the evidence base that more ambitious government regulations, both at a European level and across countries, are needed for improved population health.
The full study, ‘Assessment of the Commitments and Performance of the European Food Industry to Improve Population Nutrition’ is available to read in ‘The International Journal of Public Health’.