South Africans urged to be health-conscious amid food scrutiny

Reading Time: < 1 minute

The Healthy Living Alliance is calling on South African consumers to become more health-conscious in their everyday lives, as big food producers are under scrutiny for potentially misleading consumers about the healthiness of their products.

Children are increasingly suffering from obesity and related health issues.

Globally, over 220 million children aged 5 to 18 are obese, with South Africa seeing one in five children under 13 affected. That’s twice the global average.

The Alliance’s Simphiwe Masilo says,  “Major food cooperations are definitely one of the biggest factors that contribute to child obesity, especially in SA. If you look at how they market their food to parents and children, they play a huge contributing factor. The misleading labels that are on the back of the packaging are part of what maxi cooperation are using to lie to us. For example by having your cereal boxes that have your cartoons and nutritional information that say this is what you need for yourself to be sustained for the rest of the day which is lies.”