Waistline measures

National Obesity Strategy

©stock.adobe.com/au/Prostock-studio

The federal government has launched its National Obesity Strategy which aims to reduce overweight and obesity rates. The strategy has the twin goals of countering the trend of increasing adult obesity around the country and of reducing the level of obesity and overweight in children and adolescents by 5% come 2030.

Some of the ambitions listed in the strategy include: making processed food healthier, reducing marketing of unhealthy food, making healthy food more affordable, improving nutrition information on packaging, and building a healthier and more sustainable food system.

One of the example actions listed in the report includes the consideration of policy approaches that use price to reduce consumption of alcoholic and sugary beverages. Another example action that may be adopted under the strategy is a consistent national regulation for businesses through the food regulation system, to display energy content (kilojoules) of standardised ready-to-eat food on menus and at point of sale.

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) has endorsed the strategy, saying that food manufacturers will be cooperating with the government and its strategies in order to give consumers access to a wide variety of healthy foods and diet choices with appropriate labelling and marketing that helps shoppers buy healthy foods.

“We will work closely with government to develop some new initiatives targeting obesity, as well as continuing to support the ongoing good work of the Healthy Food Partnership,” said AFGC CEO Tanya Barden.

“Addressing obesity is an ongoing journey for the food industry as we create better products, market them responsibly and ensure consumers have the information they need to construct diets which promote and protect good health,” Barden said.

The food industry has been a strong supporter of other initiatives such as the Health Star Rating food labelling scheme and other voluntary actions including setting targets for food reformulation to reduce salt and sugar levels and preparing industry guidance on appropriate serving sizes to be shown on packaged food labels.

About one in four (23%) Australian consumers report that the front-of-pack Health Star Rating helps them choose healthier packaged and processed food and drinks so this scheme and others will continue to be improved upon in the new strategy.

The Australian Beverages Council Limited (ABCL) welcomed the report and many other initiatives that provide consumers with informed choice, such as the Health Star Rating system. However, it wasn’t pleased with the proposed fiscal approach.

“Obesity is complex and multi-factorial. The Strategy attempts to address those complexities through a comprehensive framework but the beverages industry rejects the blinkered view the Strategy takes to single out proposed discriminatory regulation and unsubstantiated fiscal policy approaches for non-alcoholic drinks. Unfortunately, the Strategy is ignoring the current evidence base that is demonstrating a 20-year trend shift in consumer purchasing behaviour away from sugar-sweetened beverages, towards low- and no-sugar options including bottled water, during the same time that obesity rates have continued to rise,” said Australian Beverages Council’s CEO, Geoff Parker.

Led by Queensland Health, endorsed by all state and territory governments and the Commonwealth, the strategy has been tailored to engage with adults and children to achieve positive and lasting results.

A range of different methods will be used to reduce and prevent obesity, including programs to encourage exercise and healthier eating with lower intakes of discretionary foods that can lead to poor diets. The program also seeks to increase access to health care as well as to address the stigma and discrimination against overweight people.

Radar level sensor

Level sensors can help users monitor and control their industrial processes. While they are basically easy to use, the process of selecting the right one for an application can still be difficult. VEGA now has one sensor for all applications called VEGAPULS 6X. Selecting the right frequency or determining the DK value of the medium are no longer obstacles, because choosing the right sensor specifications has become easier. The new configurator asks for the type of application and then quickly determines which sensor version is required. The entire procedure now consists of just a few mouse clicks. Of course, an advisory discussion with a VEGA radar specialist is still a good alternative to the configurator. In any case, the result is simplicity for users and a measurement solution that delivers results independently of the media properties, process conditions, vessel shapes and internal installations. Suitable for industries such as chemical, energy, food, oil and gas, and many others, the sensor is equipped with a comprehensive safety concept. It conforms to all the requirements of Safety Integrity Level. The certified sensor has SIL characteristics and provides the necessary operational safety to minimise risks in safety-related applications. It conforms to IEC 61511, which fulfils the strictest requirements for security of system access and communication control. And its self-diagnosis system continuously monitors the function of the sensor and recognises if it has been impaired in any way, thus contributing to higher plant availability and sensor performance.

It also features a second-generation radar chip directly from VEGA, which is characterised by its low energy consumption, high sensitivity, scalable architecture and universal applicability.

The radar antenna system and the chip are connected directly to each other, without any cable, for maximum performance.

VEGA Australia Pty Ltd

www.vega.com/au

Easily insert fillings inside food casings

With Rheon machinery you can create your designer fillings – sauces, vegetables, condiments, pizza, cheese and insert them into meat, chicken, seafood, bread products, cookies, arancini and lots more.

MODELS TO SUIT ALL MANUFACTURERS, BOTH LARGE & SMALL

Phone: (61 2) 9939 4900 Email: ssyme@symetec.com C22/148 Old Pittwater Road, Brookvale NSW, Australia www.symetec.com

Configurable safety controller

Emerson’s PACSafe configurable safety controller is designed for integrated Category 4, Performance Level e, SIL3 machine safety applications in the packaging, food and beverage, life sciences and manufacturing industries. It features a safe state reaction time of 15 ms.

The PACSafe solutions are designed to scale from small to complex machines, with the intuitive graphical-based software, complete with an extensive library of TÜV-certified SIL3 function blocks. This can enable quick integration of e-stops, pull wire, interlock gates, optical sensors, two-hand controls, safety mats and other safety devices. Available as standalone free software or integrated into the Emerson Machine Edition Automation platform, the software comes with simulation tools, online monitoring and live diagnostics capabilities to provide quick system transparency.

The DIN rail expandable design allows up to 200 safety and non-safety I/O, with OSSD, dual relay safety outputs and configurable pin I/O configuration. Users can choose from six different expansion models for a scalable solution. The LCD built-in display and diagnostics enable users to actively monitor system status to assist in troubleshooting and commissioning.

The controllers come with built-in Ethernet with support for Profinet and Modbus/TCP protocols. With seamless safety control integration into Emerson’s industrial controls range or VersaMax architectures, the PACSafe solution helps reduce safety control development and commissioning costs in new designs or with an existing PACSystem.

Control Logic Pty Ltd

www.controllogic.com.au