“The issue is not whether Europe should do less prevention, but whether it can do prevention better. Europe must stop correcting citizens from above and start investing in education, innovation and individual responsibility. Industrial food should not be denigrated: it should be understood, improved and placed within balanced diets and lifestyles,” said Pietro Paganini, President of Competere and moderator of the event at the European Parliament.

The event featured contributions from MEPs, nutrition academics, food and drink manufacturer associations, and farmer agricultural cooperatives, on public health policies tested in various European countries including the UK, which have sought to prevent cardiovascular disease.

Prof. Sumantra Ray, Executive Director, NNEdPro Global Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health, stated: “Effective prevention starts with literacy. We cannot assume that citizens, patients or even health professionals automatically have the food and nutrition literacy needed to navigate today’s information environment. People need practical skills to understand dietary patterns, not just isolated nutrients or food categories, and to distinguish evidence from misinformation. This is why Europe should invest much more seriously in nutrition capacity building, particularly within healthcare systems.”

Prof. Frans Kok, Emeritus Professor of Nutrition and Health, Wageningen University, stated: “Cardiovascular and obesity prevention cannot be built around one nutrient alone. In several European countries, such as Denmark and Norway, sugar taxes were eventually abolished, as they proved ineffective from a public health perspective. Despite a decline in sugar intake, overweight and obesity rates have continued to rise over the past 15 years. This should make policymakers question overly narrow approaches. The focus should be on total energy balance, overall dietary quality and lifestyle, rather than singling out sugar as the main target. Taxation has not been adequately evaluated as a health solution, and alternative prevention measures should be the first choice.”

Dr. Roberta Re, Director, Cambridge Food Science, stated: “The UK experience shows the limits of increasingly restrictive nutrition policies. Front-of-pack labels, reformulation pressures and HFSS restrictions were introduced with strong public health ambitions, but their real impact on consumer behaviour and obesity outcomes remains questionable. Food choices are shaped by culture, habits, lifestyle, affordability and context. Future prevention strategies should move beyond warnings and restrictions and focus instead on practical education, dietary patterns, empowerment and sustainable behaviour change.”

Bo Dohmen, Senior Manager, Nutrition & Health, FoodDrinkEurope, stated: “Europe needs holistic and science-based prevention policies that reflect the complexity of diets, lifestyles and non-communicable diseases. The use of the contested concept of ‘ultra-processed foods’ as a basis for regulation is a matter of concern, because it risks grouping together products with very different nutritional profiles and functions. Food processing itself does not tell us anything of the harm: on the contrary, it plays an essential role in safety, preservation, affordability and sustainability. Policy should focus on nutrient composition, dietary patterns, lifestyle factors, innovation and responsible reformulation, not on simplistic classifications or overly prescriptive measures.”

Simon Spillane, Director, Communications and Public Affairs, The Brewers of Europe, stated: “Consumers should be empowered through better information and greater choice, not through simplistic narratives or product stigmatisation – that risk misleading consumers rather than effectively informing them. Europe’s brewers have made strong voluntary progress on transparency, with ingredients information now available on most beers and energy information covering the vast majority of beer volumes sold in the EU. Labelling matters, but it is not a standalone public health solution. Context, behaviour and lifestyle matter too. The right approach is to reduce harmful consumption through information, education, innovation and responsible choices, including the growth of lower – and no-alcohol options.”

Annette Toft, Chair of COPA-COGECA Working Party meeting on Foodstuff, stated: “Health policy must be science-based, proportionate and balanced. Simplified front-of-pack labels risk misleading consumers when they compare very different foods through uniform reference amounts and fail to recognise nutritional value, tradition and cultural context. The same applies to discussions on meat, alcohol and ultra-processed foods: policy must distinguish between overconsumption and responsible consumption, rather than targeting broad categories. Europe should promote balanced diets, moderation, education and consumer choice, while respecting product diversity, traditional foods and Member State competences.”

Interventions from Members of the European Parliament further reinforced the need for a balanced and evidence-based approach.

Italian MEP Michele Picaro advocated a political strategy to protect citizens’ health which places emphasis on health literacy and evidence-based food information, essential to counter misinformation and simplistic food classifications. “Our long-term goal must be to reduce chronic diseases, avoiding ideological extremes. The Mediterranean Diet remains a fundamental element in preventing cardiovascular diseases.”

Pietro Fiocchi added: “We cannot reduce a complex challenge to punitive or simplistic measures – these are ineffective political shortcuts. We must invest in awareness and education, starting from primary schools, promoting balanced lifestyles in a positive and accessible way. Prevention, not imposition, is the path forward.”

Danish MEP Kristoffer Storm shared his view, saying that “moderation is key. Punitive and prohibitive policies do not deliver results. Food and alcohol are more than nutrients – they are part of Europe’s cultural heritage, and should be addressed through balanced, culturally aware policies rather than restrictive approaches.”

Health cannot be built through regulatory shortcuts. Europe does not need more punitive measures, but more effective policies: evidence-based, measurable, and capable of empowering citizens.