FOOD and beverage multinationals are well-placed to "make powerful contributions" to addressing the "double burden" of obesity and undernutrition that countries such as South Africa face, according to a report for the global Access to Nutrition Index released online on Tuesday.

Poor nutrition was one of the most significant public health challenges facing the world, and "across the board" the worlds largest food and beverage manufacturers could do "substantially more" to improve consumers access to nutrition, said the indexs funders, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.

South Africa was one of several countries, including its Brics partners India and China and developing world peer Mexico, that faced the "double burden" of obesity and undernutrition and special reports on South Africa, India and China would be released later in the year, according to the indexs website.

The 2012 Global Hunger Index puts South Africa ninth in the world for highest hunger levels, with the World Bank estimating that 15% of South African infants are born with a low birth weight and that South Africa loses about $1.1bn a year in gross domestic product because of malnutrition. The bank has calculated it would cost about $55m to alleviate this problem.

The flipside is South Africas growing obesity problem, with a 2010 GlaxoSmithKline survey estimating 61% of South Africans were overweight, obese or morbidly obese.

The 25 companies indexed have a combined $450bn revenue, and "they dont just sell products, but shape the environment of consumer choice" said one of the indexs designers, South African Graham Sinclair, principal of sustainable investment consultancy SinCo.

The index rates the 25 companies on their nutrition-related commitments, performance and disclosure globally. It is aimed at providing a benchmark from which companies can improve.

"Given the persuasive and increasing role of their products in diets in many countries, food and beverage manufacturers can make powerful contributions to addressing these challenges," the report says.

The key findings were that there was much room for improvement (no company scored more than five on a scale of 1-10), that the stronger-performing companies Danone, Unilever and Nestl had strategies that explicitly committed them to improving nutrition and integrating improved nutrition into their core business, and that companies practices often did not measure up to their commitments. Other key findings were that companies could do more to address undernutrition at a broader scale, and that many were "not very transparent" about their nutrition practices.

Read more here:
Food groups ‘can do more on nutrition ’