Getting Personal: Shifting responsibilities for dietary health

This report from the Food Ethics Council (FEC) explores how the policy approach of 'personalisation' – one of the big ideas for public service reform – will work in the food sector.

The looming costs of diet-related disease have prompted policy makers to look for ways of changing people's eating habits on an epic scale. Government believes the key lies in making people more responsible for their own health. This report explores how 'personalised' policies overlap with 'personalisation' in the food industry and in the emerging science of nutrigenomics.

The FEC argues that any increased emphasis within public health policy on personal responsibility must be matched by a renewed commitment to human rights. This is especially important in the market context of the food sector, where the focus on personal responsibility and consumer choice gives large food companies a hidden influence on policy delivery.