In 2014, the Hungarian Association of Responsible Food Producers (FÉSZ) launched a new initiative “Food Industry for the Consumers”, inviting food business operators in Hungary to submit commitments promoting balanced diet and active lifestyle.
The initiative has received support from the Ministry of Agriculture, official bodies and organisations including Hungarian Dieticians’ Association, the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture, National Institute for Food and Nutrition Science, Advertising Self Regulatory Board, University of Debrecen and Campden BRI Hungary.
Within the framework of this initiative, the below voluntary Commitments in the following key areas can be made:
| KEYWORD | COMMITMENT | CATEGORY |
| SALT INTAKE | We help our consumers to gradually get to the recommended levels of daily salt intake. | I. PRODUCT FORMULATION AND INNOVATION |
| CALORIE CONSUMPTION | We help our consumers to consume the amount of calories that is appropriate to their age and physical activity. | I. PRODUCT FORMULATION AND INNOVATION & II. PORTIONS |
| SATURATED FAT INTAKE | We help our consumers to reach the level of internationally recommended saturated fat intake. | I. PRODUCT FORMULATION AND INNOVATION |
| TFA INTAKE | We are going to decrease the level of TFAs from hydrogenated vegetable oils to 1.5% before 31 Dec 2019 in 80% of our products. | I. PRODUCT FORMULATION AND INNOVATION |
| REFERENCE INTAKE LABELLING | We indicate the reference intake values on 75% of our prepacked products (on top of the FIR requirements). | III. CONSUMER INFORMATION |
| EU PLEDGE ADVERTISING | We will advertise responsibly according to the EU Pledge. | V. RESPONSIBLE MARKETING AND ADVERTISING |
| PROMOTE ACTIVE LIFESTYLE | We will include messages that promote an active lifestyle in our TV advertisements, on the labels of our products and through other means that can be linked to products. | IV: PROMOTING HEALTHY LIFESTYLES |
| SUPPORT PROGRAMMES | We support and encourage programmes and initiatives that promote active lifestyle. | IV: PROMOTING HEALTHY LIFESTYLES |
In 2016 FÉSZ added 2 new commitments to address the latest consumer needs and hot topics:
- We help our consumers to reach the recommended daily sugar intake by gradually decreasing the sugar content of our products
- We bring new products to our consumers with food intolerance or allergy
| KEYWORD | COMMITMENT | CATEGORY |
| SUGAR INTAKE | We help our consumers to reach the recommended daily sugar intake by gradually decreasing the sugar content of our products | I. PRODUCT FORMULATION AND INNOVATION |
| FREE FROM PRODUCTS | We bring new products to our consumers with food intolerance or allergy | I. PRODUCT FORMULATION AND INNOVATION |
After the first full year more than 30 companies have joined with one or more commitments, thus the initiative is covering 25% of the Hungarian market revenue as of 2015.
FÉSZ is proud to recognise that over a half of these commitments aim to reformulate and/or develop products.
With the 2 new commitments (sugar reduction and free from products) the association aims to gather more and more companies to join the initiative.
