| Abstract: |
Researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University found that trading standards and environmental health officers are “acting more like advisers than prosecutors ” when it comes to enforcing the existing regulations governing health and nutrition claims. The study, published in PLOS ONE, looked at the role of regulation enforcers. It focused on claims like “high in fibre” or “heart healthy”.The research was based on interviews with front line enforcers from UK local authority regulatory services. It found that when time-pressed local authority regulators apply the law relating to nutrition and health claims made for foods, officers gave advice – for which they sometimes charged a fee – to businesses on how to comply instead of taking enforcement action. |
