A European network to follow-up the reformulation of manufactured foods in terms of the reduction of the levels of fat, satured and trans fat, salt and sugar. identification and exchange of good practices on the technical and economical aspects of reformulations in small and medium sized enterprises.
SALUX project aimed to follow-up the reformulation of the manufactured foods in order to promote healthier ways of life and reduce major diseases and injuries, assisting citizens nutrition through working in tight contact with SMEs, food industries associations, consumers associations, public authorities and NGOs coming mainly from the 12 EU Member States participating in the project: Italy, Finland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, UK, France, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary and Spain.
In most EU Member States more than half of the adults is overweight or obese and almost 30%, around 22 million, of children are overweight and each year this figure is growing by 400,000. Obesity accounts for 6 of the 7 leading risk factors for ill health in EU.
The combination of increasing calories intake coupled with a more sedentary lifestyle and decreasing physical activity are at the root of the problem. In the EU, obesity accounts for up to 7% of health care costs and this amount will further increase. In the last years, the changes in dietary, lifestyle patterns and chronic Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) (obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension) are becoming increasingly significant causes of disability and premature death placing additional burdens on already overtaxed national health budgets.
Nutrition is coming to the fore as a major modifiable determinant of chronic diseases, with scientific evidence that alterations in diet have strong effects, both positive and negative, on health.
SALUX project had been submitted in the framework of the call for proposals 2010 of the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers, therefore it is perfectly in line with EU strategies in the field of nutrition and reformulation of manufactured food. In particular, it aimed to promote and support the implementation of the “White Paper on a Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity” that claims for the involvement of a wide range of actors in the fight to the obesity epidemic.
Besides, WHO Europe in the “Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health” recognized the growing burden of NCD asking the EU Member States to develop a global strategy through a broad consultation and to promote and protect health to reduce diseases and deaths related to unhealthy diet and physical inactivity.
For more information, please visit: www.salux-project.eu