As manufacturers who employ over 4 million and provide food for 500 million people in the European Union alone every day, food and drink companies, together with national federations and their member associations, are partners with society on multiple levels. Our employees are also consumers, and their families represent a broad cross-section of European society as a whole. Confronted with the spread of obesity and related health complications, we are working together with public authorities and other stakeholders to help reverse the trend.

The most effective way to combat something as multi-factorial as obesity, however, is to address it at all levels with consistent messages and actions. The EU Platform for Action, which brings together industry, public health authorities, national governments, non-governmental organisations, retailers, doctors and others, is one such example of partnership. But similar initiatives at national level are just as important, and are often supported by the same companies that support the EU Platform.

The initiatives described on the following pages represent just a sample of all that we are doing around Europe today.