Chile has followed in the footsteps of Australian fast food retailers by removing the toys from children’s meals.
Chile’s government has stepped in to attempt to improve obesity rates by banning toys and other goodies from being served with children’s meals.
In Australia, the government is yet to step in and announce similar regulation, which many health experts have called for since McDonald’s and Hungry Jack’s refused to follow KFC’s lead, which eliminated toys with kid’s meals in August last year.
The next month, the decision by Hungry Jacks to introduce sides of vegetables with its meals was met with apprehension from health professionals.
But more than a month after the ban came into effect in Chile, fast food retailers are still including toys with meals, leading Senator Giudo Girardi to file a formal complaint with the health ministry.
“These businesses know that this food damages the health of children and they know that the law is in effect. They're using fraudulent and abusive means,” Giraldi said.
In his complaint, the senator also targets other manufacturers of cereal, iced treats and other products that attract children with toys, crayons or stickers.
If the companies identified in his submission are found to have continued giving toys with children’s meals, they could be forced to remove them goodies or face nominal fines.
The refusal by some companies to obey the law in Chile is one of the reasons Australian experts don’t believe it is necessary or useful to implement government regulation, but instead rely on manufacturers and retailers to listen to consumers and adapt businesses accordingly.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) believes its Responsible Marketing to Children Initiative (RMCI) has been successful at reducing the number of advertisements for junk food directed at children, but a recently released National Food Plan report suggests these voluntary standards will have to be monitored by the government.
“The food industry is definitely part of the solution, particularly when you look at overweight and obesity, Cristel Leemhuis, Director, Preventative Health Policy Healthier Australia Commitment at the AFGC told the recent Food Magazine Leaders Summit.
“It’s not voluntarily, the consumer is demanding it.
“Consumers push these businesses, so they’re responding to that consumer demands.
“I’m a fan of minimum effective regulation if we do need it lets go down that track, but let’s see what we can do without the regulation to start with.
“Can we actually address the issue without regulation?
“That’s the path we should take first.
“If that doesn’t work then we should step into these other areas, but we really need to try this other area first before we just straight down to [regulation].”