Food Voters want personal responsibility in nutrition issues

When it comes to nutrition, Swiss voters want personal responsibility and education rather than bans and taxes. The state should promote nutritional skills through education and information.

According to respondents to the "Nutrition and Physical Activity Monitor 2024" published on Wednesday, consumers themselves make the biggest contribution to a balanced diet, ahead of families, friends and schools. The gfs.bern conducted the survey for the 11th time in March on behalf of the Soft Drinks Information Group, interviewing over 1000 Swiss citizens with voting rights.

The desire for prevention programs (94%) and for joint government and business projects (93%) reached record levels in this year's survey. This also applies to compulsory nutrition education in schools.

One example of a project implemented jointly by the state and industry is sugar reduction as part of the Milan Declaration. It obliges beverage manufacturers and retailers to reduce the sugar content of drinks by ten percent by the end of 2024.

Sugar tax rejected

70 percent of participants in the survey rejected a tax on foods containing sugar, salt and fat. A good three quarters were convinced that eating habits cannot be changed with taxes. Transparent and comprehensible information about products received a high level of approval (97%). Many respondents also wanted a simplification of the nutrition declaration or color coding with a Nutri-Score.