The summer holidays are ending in some federal states, time to prepare the little ones for school. Of course, one or the other "delicious companion" can be there for the breaks. According to Lebensmittelmarkt Rewe, these are mainly sweets.
Doctors and consumer advocates have criticized the food retailer Rewe for an advertising brochure for sweets and salty snacks at the start of school. 32 of the 34 foods advertised as "delicious companions for everyday school life" do not correspond to the nutritional value recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), explained the German Alliance for Non-Communicable Diseases (DANK), a medical and scientific alliance. In this way, Rewe is promoting the malnutrition of children. The company initially did not respond to the allegations.
The Bavarian consumer advice center had previously criticized the high sugar content of many of the products. "Your website has a lot of good things about balanced child nutrition," the consumer advocates wrote to Rewe on Twitter. When selecting the food to be advertised, however, potential income was probably the most important thing.
"The fact that Rewe is advertising sugar bombs and greasy-salty sausages for the start of school is exemplary," explained DANK spokeswoman and managing director of the German Diabetes Society (DDG), Barbara Bitzer. "Children eat more than twice as much sweets but only half as much fruit and vegetables as recommended. One reason is the sophisticated advertising for so-called children's food."
She is therefore in favor of statutory advertising restrictions. "Only healthy foods that meet the WHO recommendations should be allowed to be advertised to children," Bitzer said. DANK referred to the corresponding plans of the traffic light government in the coalition agreement. "A draft for the regulation is still pending," criticized the doctors.
