Comprehensive mapping of national school food policies across the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland.

Childhood obesity is a major public health challenge in Europe. Schools are seen as an important setting to promote healthy diet and lifestyle in a protected environment and school food-related practices are essential in this regard. To understand what policy frameworks European countries have created to govern these practices, a systematic assessment of national school food policies across the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland (n = 30 countries) was carried out. The survey revealed that all 30 countries currently have a school food policy in place; a total of 34 relevant policies were identified, 18 of which were mandatory and the remaining 16 voluntary. Major policy objectives specified were those to improve child nutrition (97% of policies), to help children learn and adopt healthy diet and lifestyle habits (94%) and to reduce or prevent childhood obesity (88%). Most commonly (>90%), the policies offered food-based standards for menu composition, and portion sizes were guided by age-appropriate energy requirements. Lunch and snacks were the most widely addressed mealtimes for almost 90% of all policies examined. Other important areas covered included food marketing to children; the availability of vending services; training requirements for catering staff; and whether nutrition education is a mandatory part of the national curriculum. Evaluation was mentioned in 59% of the school food policies reviewed. Future analyses should focus on evaluating the implementation of these policies and more importantly, their effectiveness in meeting the objectives defined therein. Comparable and up-to-date information along with data on education, attainment and public health indicators will enable a comprehensive impact assessment of school food policies and help facilitate optimal school food provision for all.

Penetration of nutrition information on food labels across the EU-27 plus Turkey.

OBJECTIVES: The European Union (EU)-funded project Food Labelling to Advance Better Education for Life (FLABEL) aims to understand how nutrition information on food labels affects consumers' dietary choices and shopping behaviour. The first phase of this study consisted of assessing the penetration of nutrition labelling and related information on various food products in all 27 EU Member States and Turkey. METHODS: In each country, food products were audited in three different types of retailers to cover as many different products as possible within five food and beverage categories: sweet biscuits, breakfast cereals, pre-packed chilled ready meals, carbonated soft drinks and yoghurts. RESULTS: More than 37 000 products were audited in a total of 84 retail stores. On average, 85% of the products contained back-of-pack (BOP) nutrition labelling or related information (from 70% in Slovenia to 97% in Ireland), versus 48% for front-of-pack (FOP) information (from 24% in Turkey to 82% in the UK). The most widespread format was the BOP tabular or linear listing of nutrition content. Guideline daily amounts labelling was the most prevalent form of FOP information, showing an average penetration of 25% across all products audited. Among categories, breakfast cereals showed the highest penetration of nutrition-related information, with 94% BOP penetration and 70% FOP penetration. CONCLUSIONS: Nutrition labelling and related information was found on a large majority of products audited. These findings provide the basis for subsequent phases of FLABEL involving attention, reading, liking, understanding and use by consumers of different nutrition labelling formats.

Iron-binding properties, amino acid composition, and structure of muscle tissue peptides from in vitro digestion of different meat sources.

BACKGROUND: The enhancing effect of meat on nonheme iron bioavailability in humans is thought to be due to the release of low-molecular-weight (LMW) iron-binding peptides during digestion. OBJECTIVE: To better characterize the LMW iron-binding peptides from meat digests. METHODS: Cooked beef, chicken, cod, lamb, and pork myofibrillar or sarcoplasmic protein extracts, casein, and egg albumin were digested in vitro with pepsin or pepsin/pancreatin. Ultrafiltrates were analyzed for N and iron and further characterized by gel filtration with added 59Fe, amino acid analysis, and LC-MS. RESULTS: 84% to 98% of total iron in enzymic digests was associated with soluble LMW peptides (< 10 kDa) of the myofibrillar proteins compared to only 2% to 20% in the corresponding sarcoplasmic protein digests. Pepsin digestion alone of the myobrillar proteins generated > 80% soluble LMW iron, compared to < 5% with casein and egg albumin. Iron-binding peptides from myofibrillar protein with an estimated 2 kDa molecular mass were separated by gel filtration. Peptides in this fraction were enriched in aspartic and glutamic acid residues and included potential peptide fragments of myosin. CONCLUSION: LMW (< 10 kDa) peptides in enzyme digests of myofibrillar proteins were the major facilitators of iron solubility. Unlike with casein, egg albumin, and most sarcoplasmic proteins, these LMW peptides were generated on pepsin digestion. One group of iron-binding peptides had a mass of approximately 2 kDa and was enriched in glutamic and aspartic acids. Such early generation of a multitude of LMW iron-binding peptides could explain the enhancing effect of muscle tissue on iron absorption.