Legislative scaffolds for saltreduction programs
A new way of regulating business in the
‘nanny state’ era
Belinda Reeve, Law Fellow, O’Neill Institute for National and Global
Health Law
Bloomberg’s soda rule
The National Salt Reduction
Initiative
The links between salt and health
Excess salt
Hypertension
Strokes and
heart disease
Processed foods: The main source of
dietary salt intake
The UK Food Standards Authority
Australian Food and Health Dialogue
• Nine food categories
• Twenty targets
• Approx. 42 participants
Effective?
Obstacles to public health regulation
• Nanny state rhetoric
• Economic productivity arguments
• A powerful food industry
Governments remain
responsible for public health
A spectrum of regulatory options
Table 1. Different types of self-regulation
Pure
Industry develops initiatives unilaterally
Coerced
Self-regulation results from explicit or tacit threat of
government action
Sanctioned
Industry devises rules that are approved by
government
Mandated
Government provides legislative framework for selfregulation
Smart regulation
Self-regulation
Mandatory standards
Responsive regulation
Mandatory
standards
Standards with
discretionary
punishment
Enforced self-regulation
Self-regulation
Voluntary compliance
Legislative scaffolds
Content
Processes
Enforcement
Objectives
Terms
Conditions
Administration
Monitoring
Review
Incentives for
compliance,
Penalties for
breaches
Improving the Dialogue: Phase 1
Content
Processes
Enforcement
Greater range of targets
Encourage more
participants
Targets and caps are
voluntary
Monitoring through
baseline data on salt
intake and food database
Warning label for new
high-salt products
Creation of maximum salt
caps
Creation of High-Level
Steering Committee with
equal representation of
interests
Improving the Dialogue: Phase 2
Content
Processes
Enforcement
Salt reduction targets
apply to specific
manufacturers’ portfolios
Creation of an
independent regulator
with a statutory mandate
Mandatory compliance
with average targets
Regulator to monitor
companies’ performance
Failure to reformulate
requires salt warning
label
Regulator can acquire
information, ‘name and
shame’, seek enforceable
undertakings
Improving the Dialogue: Phase 3
Content
Processes
Enforcement
Salt reduction targets
apply to specific
manufacturers’ portfolios
Independent audit
assessing participants’
performance and scheme
performance overall
Regulator seeks
enforceable undertakings
with penalties for noncompliance
Pie in the sky?
Thank you
Belindareeve.com
bhr7@georgetown.law.edu
@Belindareeve