Month: July 2023

Mexico – Advertising Advisory Council presents Decalogue of actions to protect public health

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In order to prevent misleading and inconsistent advertising from continuing to try to clean up the image of brands, products and services with proven health risks and infringement of the right to health, the Advertising Advisory Council headed by the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (COFEPRIS in Spanish), announces the Decalogue of actions that will guide its work as a reference body in the consolidation of an effective legal and regulatory framework to protect the health of the population.

This collegiate body, made up of agencies and entities of the Federal Public Administration (APF in Spanish), the academic and scientific community, the business sector, advertising media and the media, has among its objectives to analyze and give its opinion on the use and content of advertising codes of ethics.

For further information, you can access the original source in Spanish

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Article – Violations of the Code in Argentina: analysis of promotions, advertising and labeling of commercial milk formula and complementary foods products

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Breastfeeding has unique benefits for the child and the mother, and its decline may be one of the most significant mass phenomena in infant feeding. While there are several causes, standing out among them is the marketing practices of commercial milk formula (CMF) and commercial complementary foods (CCF). This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using qualitative and quantitative methodology, between August 2018 and August 2020. Regarding the promotion, advertising and labeling of CMF and CCF, none of the companies in Argentina at the time complied with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes or the related laws in force in the country. The multiple forms of violation found emphasize the need to establish and strengthen monitoring and enforcement mechanisms to curb abuses by the CMF and CCF industry in Argentina, safeguarding the rights of mothers, families, and their newborns. Likewise, the Government must lead the political process and adapt its regulatory framework in terms of transparency and conflict of interest, as well as generate comprehensive and intersectoral public policies on the protection of breastfeeding.

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Article – Formula for deception: Corporate violations and State negligence; Labelling and advertising in breast-milk substitutes in Argentina

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The protection of breastfeeding is a human rights issue. It is closely related to the right that babies and mothers have to the highest attainable standard of health, to adequate nutrition and to reliable information.

Argentina has incorporated the “International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes” into different regulations in a partial and fragmentary manner, being considered a country “with some provisions of the Code included”.

This article is intended to present an assessment of the level of compliance with the rules currently in force in Argentina by corporations as well as by state agencies responsible for enforcement and supervision, focusing on labelling and advertising aspects.

The study comprised two different methods for data collection. First, labels found on containers of infant formulas and modified milks for children were collected and analysed according to NetCode Protocol for periodic assessments. Second, ads in digital ecosystem were collected and a content analysis of texts and images was performed.

The packages of 54 types of breastmilk substitutes were photographed and examined. 100% of the examined labels of substitutes were in violation of the national rules and regulations and the provisions set forth in the Code. The most frequent reasons were nutrition and/or health claims or declarations, imagery and language idealizing the use of the product, and invitations to make contact with the company. Regarding mandatory texts or designs, violations included the omission, modification, and font size or position that minimizes their presence.

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Dominican Republic – DIGEMAPS will be a decentralized, autonomous agency and will promote the homologation of sanitary registrations of imported food and medicines

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One month after the General Directorate of Medicines, Food and Health Products (DIGEMAPS in Spanish) ceased to be a unit attached to the Ministry of Public Health to become a decentralized institution with Decree N°231-23, the entity is working on improving and modernizing some of its processes.

Among them is the homologation of sanitary registrations of foods brought from countries such as the United States and those that are part of the European Union.

For further information, you can access the original source in Spanish

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Chile – Congressmen approve bill to amend the Sanitary Code to prohibit the naming of hamburgers or sausages as hamburger or sausage products of vegetable origin

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The Chamber of Deputies approved the Bill “that modifies the Sanitary Code, to define the concept of meat and prohibit giving that denomination to products that are not of animal origin”.

Now the bill will pass to the Senate where it will begin its last instance of discussion to become a law.

This legislation includes a clause that states that “the names associated with products of animal origin, such as ‘hamburger’, ‘chorizo’, ‘sausage’, ‘sausage’, ‘jerky’, among others, cannot be used to describe, promote or market food products that contain a greater proportion of vegetable matter than meat”.

For further information, you can access the original source in Spanish

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