Guideline to control food advertisement next year

Star: PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry will come up with a detailed guideline to control the advertising and marketing of food products in Malaysia next year.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the guideline was ready but the ministry was having final consultations with industry stakeholders before it could be released and implemented next year.
Speaking to reporters after a dialogue with 35 food manufacturers, Liow said the ministry would encourage the food industry to self-regulate before drafting regulations to govern the advertising and marketing of food products.
“We will only consider drafting regulations if industry players do not comply with the guideline,” he said.
Quoting the guideline for the advertisement and nutrition information labelling of fast food as an example, Liow said the fast food industry had followed the guideline and labelled their food accordingly since it was implemented a few years ago.
With this new guideline, Liow hoped that the industry would practice “responsible marketing” and provide specific details for food advertisers and marketers.
At the same dialogue, the Health Ministry has also formed a technical working group with the Federation of Malaysian Manu­facturers Food Manufacturing Group to implement the commitments made by the participating manufacturers.
The manufacturers have committed to increase the production and promotion of healthy food choices, adopt an active role in multi-sectoral partnerships with the ministry and participate in non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention and control programmes.
A recent healthy survey by the ministry had revealed that NCDs like hypertension and diabetes were on the rise in the country since 1996.