Failure to exempt cheese from ban ‘wrongheaded’

The Irish Farmers’ Association has described as “wrongheaded” the decision by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland not to exempt cheese but to “persist” with classifying it as less healthy for children than diet cola.

The IFA’s national dairy committee chairman Kevin Kiersey said that, as parents, dairy farmers were just as concerned as anyone by the increased incidence of obesity in children.

“The BAI’s suggestion that cheese should be treated the same way for advertising purposes as junk foods such as confectionery, crisps or sugary soft drinks, and that it is somehow less healthy than diet cola, is based on poor methodology and flawed analyses, and is fundamentally wrong,” he said.