The Food and Drink Federation is the voice of the UK food and drink manufacturing industry. We represent about 95 per cent of what is Britain's largest manufacturing sector, with the main aim of improving that sector's competitiveness, so it can best meet consumers' needs.

The turnover of the sector is over £66 billion, or more than 14 per cent of total manufacturing, of which about £9 billion is in exports.This industry is therefore a force to be reckoned with, with all the power - but also all of the responsibilities - that go with it. And these responsibilities are substantial.

First and foremost we must ensure that the food we produce is safe for our customers to eat. It is our number one priority and is not negotiable. We have taken tremendous steps during recent years to improve food safety standards and practices. Our food has never been so safe.Secondly we accept the absolute necessity to comply fully with food and drink legislation and relevant codes of practice, whether to do with production or marketing.

Thirdly we have the essential responsibility to respond to consumer demands. This is more complicated than the previous two responsibilities because consumers' lifestyles have changed so dramatically over the last 10 or 15 years and that trend continues. Consumers' demands have changed, in particular they want choice on a level never previously imagined.

So against that background, where does the industry sit on the current hot issues of food labelling and marketing food to children?

Food Labelling

Clearly manufacturers must be able to differentiate their products from those of their competitors, and to inform consumers of a product's benefits. At present, manufacturers may legally inform consumers for example, of a product's health benefits on the packaging and through marketing. The EU is now threatening this type of information with its proposed EU Regulation on Health Claims.

The UK industry welcomes the move by the EU to harmonise the laws on health claims across Europe, however the new proposal moves away from the principle of recognising the validity of health and nutritional claims on their scientific merits. Rather, it labels products as "good" or "bad" foods, with only so-called "good foods" being able to make a health claim.This not only prevents manufacturers from communicating the benefit of a product to their customers, but also assumes that consumers don't want to know about it on the basis of the product's other ingredients. This is censorship of manufacturers and baffling to the consumer. UK consumers are pretty savvy, and UK manufacturers want to help them make informed choices. More importantly, the industry relies on the loyalty and trust of its customers and does not set out to mislead. Frankly it's bad business: if consumers feel that they are being duped, they won't buy that product again.

Marketing to Children

Labelling is one way food and drink manufacturers can inform consumers about their products' attributes. Advertising and promotion, however, are among the manufacturer's main tools for informing consumers about the choice of products on offer to them. At present the promotion of food and drink to children is under scrutiny.

Food and drink manufacturers, like every other consumer goods manufacturers, use advertising and marketing to promote their brands amongst the thousands of other brands vying for consumers' attention in a very competitive market. There are around 20-30,000 food and drink products in the average supermarket, providing parents and children with an enormous variety of foods from which they can create a healthy, balanced diet.

When marketing to children, manufacturers take a very responsible view of their relationships with them. There are already very strict codes of practice governing advertising to children, which state that ads should not for example:

The industry has an exemplary record in upholding these codes. The Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) say that complaints about food advertising, especially to children, are few in number: of the total complaints received by the ITC in 1999, these accounted for less than one per cent of which only one was actually upheld.

Despite this, there are calls from some quarters to ban advertising and marketing to children. I do not believe this is a constructive way to combat the very complex issue of obesity. The industry recognises it has a role to play in combating obesity, but children are consumers too and advertisements and promotion are part of the real world in which they live. It is also important to recognise that advertising and marketing are just one small factor among the many influences on people's eating habits.

So what can the food and drink industry do about, for example, obesity? Where the industry can assist, and use its unique relationship with consumers effectively, is in educating people about healthy, balanced lifestyles. Since 1996 the FDF has run the foodfitness programme (www.foodfitness.org.uk) providing consumers with information on how to improve their lifestyles by building healthy, balanced diets combined with physical activity.

The industry recognises that it has a responsibility to consumers to not only provide a wide choice of tasty, safe food and drink, but also has a role in expanding consumers' understanding of the food they eat. Whether it be through improved labelling, or working with government or other food chain partners to better inform consumers - the UK food and drink manufacturing industry stands ready to play its part.

Martin Paterson is the DeputyDirector General of the Foodand Drink Federation (FDF)