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On 31 October, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced upcoming regulation on food advertising to children under the age of 12, as part of the launch of a broad National Action Plan on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). The Action Plan is built on three pillars - public health, medical care and health regulation - designed to tackle the obesity epidemic in the country where seven out of 10 adults are overweight. The third pillar, which aims to encourage healthy behaviours, encompasses measures on food advertising and food labelling, and introduces a tax on drinks with added sugar and on foods high in saturated fat, sugar and salt.

Key provisions with regard to food advertising:

• The Ministry of health is tasked to draft and implement a decree on food and beverage labelling and advertising.
• The regulations will define day parts which are deemed to be “child targeted” as follows: 2:30 PM - 7:30 PM Monday-Friday and 7:00 AM - 7:30 PM Saturday-Sunday. Products not meeting nutrition criteria to be determined will not be able to be advertised during these day parts if the audience at the time of broadcast is composed of over 35% children under the age of 12.
• Exceptions will be made for adverts in and around programmes which are of general appeal, such as telenovelas (soap operas), sports, news, series and movies, regardless of time of broadcast and audience composition.
• Applicable nutrition criteria will be developed by Cofepris (The Federal Commission for protection against health risks).

For more information, contact Will Gilroy.


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