Click here to download the 125-page pdf of the full report: Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity within a Generation.
FMI: White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report
On May 11, 2010, the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity released their report, “Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation.” The report was requested in a February 9 memorandum issued by the President asking this interagency task force to review research, consult experts as well as the public and produce a set of recommendations that take together “will put our country on track to solving the problem of childhood obesity.”
These recommendations are likely the future foundation of the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” initiative and are built around the previously established “pillars” of the campaign:
- Empowering parents and caregivers;
- Providing health food in schools;
- Improving access to healthy, affordable foods; and
- Increasing physical activity.
In addition, a section focusing on early childhood was added. Each section establishes recommendations and benchmarks of success.
Focus of the recommendations is “not simply for Federal action, but also for how the private sector, state and local leaders, and parents themselves can help improve the health of our children.”
Impact on Food Retailers:
The food retail industry was specifically mentioned in two sections of the report: Empowering Parents and Caregivers, and Access to Healthy Affordable Food. While our industry can have an impact on issues raised throughout the entire report below highlights the specific areas in which retail was referenced.
Empowering Parents and Caregivers (page 23-36):
The Task Force reported that “fundamentally, parents and caregivers are responsible for their children’s health and development”, but “changes in the food and social environment over the past 20 years have made parents’ and caregivers’ roles in promoting health more challenging.” Challenges include “confusing claims or labels on food packages” and “marketing campaigns.”
Marketing:
The report highlights the voluntary initiatives by industry to alter the way food is marketed to children and its effectiveness. Particular focus was on the program established by the Council of Better Business Bureaus – Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI). The Task Force found a lack of uniformity in many of the efforts related to type of marketing, marketing platforms in which the agreements reach, use of nutritional information and message being conveyed to children.
The Task Force also believes that “voluntary reform will only occur if companies are presented with sufficient reasons to comply – the prospect of regulation or legislation has often served as a catalyst for driving meaningful reform.”
Specific Recommendations Focused on Retailers:
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Recommendation 2.5: The food and beverage industry should extend its self-regulatory program to cover all forms of marketing to children, and food retailers should avoid in-store marketing that promotes unhealthy products to children.
Currently, the CFBAI guidelines limit only certain types of child-directed advertising—including television, print, radio, and Internet—but do not apply to in-store advertising, product packaging, and many other forms of marketing. For truly meaningful and effective self-regulation, all forms of child-directed marketing should be covered. Retailers have an important role to play in this effort as well, since they control what products are placed at children’s eye level and can impact in-store advertising, including at the point-of-sale (page 32).
Access to Health, Affordable Food (pages 49-64)
The Task Force reported that health options can be hard to find in too many communities and that economic incentives oftentimes favor unhealthy eating. Focus in this section is based on what the Task Force finds as four key elements for “ensuring access to healthy, affordable food”:
- Convenient physical access to grocery stores and other retailers that sell a variety of healthy foods;
- Prices that make healthy choices affordable and attractive;
- A range of healthy products available in the marketplace (product reformulation); and
- Adequate resources for consumers to make healthful choices, including access to nutrition assistance programs to meet the special needs of low-income Americans.
Positively the Task Force recognized that there is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach to the problem of food deserts and in some cases a grocery store or supermarket in a community may not be “economically feasible” but there could be other unique solutions to fix the problem.
The benchmark for success in this section is to “eliminate food deserts in America in 7 years.”
Specific Recommendations Focused on Retailers:
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Recommendation 4.1: Launch a multi-year, multi-agency Healthy Food Financing Initiative to leverage private funds to increase the availability of affordable, healthy foods in underserved urban and rural communities across the country (page 53).
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Recommendation 4.2: Local governments should be encouraged to create incentives to attract supermarkets and grocery stores to underserved neighborhoods and improve transportation routes to healthy food retailers (page 54).
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Recommendation 4.3: Food distributors should be encouraged to explore ways to use their existing distribution chains and systems to bring fresh and healthy foods into underserved communities (page 54).
Other Issues:
Food Pricing
The Task Force reports that “prices have a large effect on consumer choices”. Focus is on agriculture policy as a whole on food prices, impact on subsidies programs at the retail level, and the impact of tax policy on purchasing behavior.
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Recommendation 4.7: Provide economic incentives to increase production of healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, as well as create greater access to local and healthy food for consumers (page 59).
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Recommendation 4.8: Demonstrate and evaluate the effect of targeted subsidies on purchases of healthy food through nutrition assistance programs (page 59).
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Recommendation 4.9: Analyze the effect of state and local sales taxes on less healthy, energy-dense foods (page 59).
Efforts were made in the report and the introductory press conference to convey the fact that a federal “sugar tax” has not been proposed and the focus is on the tax being implemented at the state or local level.
Hunger and Obesity
The Task Force examined the “possible correlation between food insecurity and obesity” and focused on the participation rates for the current Federal nutrition assistance programs including SNAP and WIC. More than one-third of those eligible for SNAP do not participate and 40% for WIC. Focus may present food retail industry and opportunity to begin/expand on programs that help assist with the enrollment of eligible individuals.
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Recommendation 4.11: Increase participation rates in USDA nutrition assistance programs through creative outreach and improved customer service, state adoption of improved policy options and technology systems, and effective practices to ensure ready access to nutrition assistance program benefits, especially for children.
Improved policies and effective practices include streamlined and more timely application process, greater use of broad-based categorical eligibility and direct certification, and reductions of barriers to participation such as finger imaging. Access to feeding programs for children throughout the year can also be expanded by engaging state, local, Tribal, community leaders, and partnerships with allied organizations, advocacy groups, and communities (page 62).
Next Steps:
The report concludes with the call “to turn these ideas into action” but does not provide specific timelines beyond the broad goals established in the Let’s Move campaign. Action will require a combination of new legislation, Congressional appropriations, use of existing Federal programs and voluntary commitments by industry and other stakeholders.
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