Plans to restrict cheese ads aimed at children deeply flawed, says IFA

The IFA has criticised as “deeply flawed” proposals by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) to restrict the advertising of cheese to children along similar lines to confectionery.

IFA dairy chairman Kevin Kiersey said farmers fully support any constructive action to counter the increased prevalence of obesity in children and teenagers, but adds it is nonsense to give cheese the same ‘unhealthy’ label as, say, sugary drinks. The farmer group wants BAI to base its actions on scientific evidence and not rely on “a process tainted by a conflict of interest which puts into question its entire credibility”.

Mr Kiersey said: “Recent comments by TDs and the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney show that the IFA information campaign is working. However, it is high time for the BAI to recognise that its insistence on restricting advertising of cheese not only to children, but in a general way (the recommendations from the BAI would restrict the amount of advertising time available to so-called ‘less healthy’ foods, including cheese, even when not targeted to children) is flawed, wrongheaded and not evidence-based.”

A spokesperson for the BAI said that the authority has invited representatives from sectors such as health, food production, broadcasting and advertising to contribute to its consultation process on draft general and children’s commercial communications codes. It will publish its final determination in the early autumn.

The BAI said all relevant parties have been invited to make their views known within that process.

The authority said that it would not get involved in a public debate on the issue prior to completing its internal process, the second round of which is now completed.

At the conclusion of the first round of consultations in March, BAI chairman Bob Collins said: “Some respondents to our initial consultation wanted a complete ban on certain foods until 9pm in the evening; while others wanted exemptions to be applied to a range of foods that were considered to be of high economic importance to certain sectors of the economy.

“The draft codes strike a balance between these divergent views. Most importantly, the codes ensure that the BAI executes its legal responsibilities in terms of protecting the interests of children. In putting forward the draft codes, the BAI is not telling people what to eat, but is trying to support the creation of an environment in which more healthy food choices can be made.”

The IFA’s Kevin Kiersey said that extensive nutrition data produced by the Irish Universities’ Nutritional Alliance would have shown to the BAI’s expert group that cheese consumption by Irish children and teenagers has remained static for the past 20 years, at around 10grs per day, less than half the daily recommended portion. Over the same period, the incidence of overweight and obesity among the relevant age groups has doubled.

“Cheese consumption plays no part in the increased incidence of obesity among Irish children. In fact, Irish children’s relatively low consumption of cheese is a contributory factor to proven calcium deficiencies in their diets,” said Mr Kiersey.

The IFA spokesman said t the BAI’s recommendations are based on a “flawed and over simplistic” UK model developed in 2004/05 for the UK Food Safety Authority, produced by Lynn Stockley and Associates. One of the authors of that report was enlisted to review the BAI’s consultation process and make recommendations.

Mr Kiersey said: “This has created a fundamental conflict of interest, and resulted in a very predictable rebuttal of all arguments questioning the use of the model to include cheese as ‘less healthy’ food.

“I urge Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte to take a closer interest in this issue, as it is threatening the credibility of an organisation, the BAI, which falls under his remit.

“I also urge Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to work on a prompt resolution of this issue to avoid the very serious reputational damage this could have for the Irish dairy industry,” Mr Kiersey said.