Report 2014 - Talking Obesity: Consumer Co-operatives Leading the Way

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Around 1 in 3 children in the EU aged 6-9 years old were overweight or obese in 2010. In 2008, estimates were 1 in 4.2 Estimates put overweight-related deaths in the EU at 2.8 million per year.

Euro Coop is a founding member of the EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health and as such is committed to tackling current trends in diet and physical activity. Euro Coop works to help consumers make informed choices about their food purchases and fight against the obesity epidemic in Europe. Consumer co-operatives have long promoted healthy lifestyles through raising awareness and educating their members and consumers at large.

We are proud to present the third edition of “Talking Obesity: Consumer Co-operatives Leading the Way.” This report gathers the most significant examples of concrete initiatives undertaken by our national member organisations in order to encourage healthy habits among consumers. As will be shown, this can done through different tools: responsible marketing, education campaigns, labelling, physical activity and product reformulation.

With a care for community underpinning all of consumer co-operatives’ actions, all members, elected representatives, managers and employees within the European consumer co-operative movement receive education, training and information on how to approach food and physical activity in a healthy and sustainable manner.

It is our hope that our fellow co-operators and civil society actors will find this report inspiring and that it can serve as a model for other actors in the food chain. Together we can encourage sustainable initiatives which promote healthy lifestyles and make healthy choices the easiest option.

Happy reading!