BALLARAT-based social enterprise Healthy Futures Australia is backing a new report calling on Australia’s most popular fast-food restaurants to be more transparent about their nutrition policies.
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Healthy Futures founder Shelley Bowen said study of Australia’s leading fast-food chains was great information for consumers in helping to sift through the fast foods that were “everywhere in our community” when seeking nutrition.
“As a parent in this community, I want to see a much stronger score card in favour of nutrition in fast foods given how much is being eaten. Food isn’t something we just eat to fill up it provides us with the essential nutrition we need to be healthy and well for as long as possible,” Dr Bowen said.
“We have such a worrying crisis across our community, we are one of the most obese nations on earth and it’s well and truly time fast food outlets delivered on healthier products, as a community we need to demand nutritious food for families and our kids future.”
Deakin University’s Global Obesity Centre is recommending popular fast-food restaurants commit to reducing salt, sugar and saturated fats, making healthier options the default choice and a positive pricing strategy for healthier products.
Inside our Quick Service Restaurants focused on the 11 largest fast-food chains, which cover about 67 per cent of the Australian market, then ranked them on publicly available information based on their policies to healthy eating. It found while some had taken positive steps to tackle obesity and unhealthy diets, there was a "much greater role for the sector to play".
In marking restaurants on nutritional disclosure and health commitments, Subway topped the list with a grading of 48 out of 100. Researchers suggested Subway could do better by phasing out free soft drink refills.
Domino’s Pizza scored 3/100, with zero in each category except for nutrition labelling and transparency in its corporate relationships. In a statement, Domino's Pizza said it "already meets or exceeds” recommendations, including reducing sodium and fat, not marketing to children, and kilojoule labelling on menus.
- with Georgina Mitchell
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