With so much talk about front of pack food labelling and how to get it right, it’s exciting to share a brand new scheme launched in Australia (right now) today. While it is designed for people with diabetes and only for our country at the mo, the research and criteria development will interest all nutrition professionals and healthy readers.
About our expert:
Nicole Senior is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist, author of several books including her latest Food Myths, speaker and nutrition consultant to Made for You Foods. She is a regular contributor to Scoop Nutrition and also gives fantastic tweets @NicoleMSenior.
New convenience products for people watching their blood sugar: Made for You Foods
Have you ever felt confused by food labels? Have you ever longed for your own personal nutritionist to come shopping with you and show you what’s best to buy? You’re not alone. But imagine if you also had to watch your blood sugar levels as well? Welcome to the world of the rapidly growing number of people with diabetes and pre-diabetes. The difficulties faced by people watching their blood sugars just trying to do their weekly shop – and their desire to enjoy great tasting food – is the reason Made for You Foods was born. Co-founded by chef and author Peter Howard who also has type 2 diabetes, the company’s aim is to make delicious food inspired by Peter’s recipes that are also a healthy choice people for people watching their blood sugar levels. Read more about Made for You Foods at their website here.
D-tick symbol
But the company also wants to make healthy choices easy to spot: enter the D-tick symbol. The D-tick is a food approval program developed with the needs of people watching their blood sugar in mind. Only foods that meet the D-tick nutrition criteria will be able to use the D-tick symbol on the label. While the D-tick is new and only appears on Made for You Foods right now, other manufacturers will be invited to use the D-tick symbol on eligible foods as well. It is hoped many more foods with the D-tick will become available making shopping for healthy options even easier. Read more about D-tick here.
The company had their culinary course set, but the credibility of D-tick required solid nutrition criteria and that was my task. We benchmarked existing food approval programs like the Heart Foundation Tick, GI Symbol and FSANZ Health Claims Nutrient Profiling Calculator, but needed the specific requirements for people with diabetes incorporated as well and this is where collaboration with Australian Diabetes Council (ADC) was invaluable. We used the ADC Healthy Shopping Guide criteria and our shared expert knowledge of evidence-based practice in the dietary management of diabetes to arrive at criteria that ADC was happy to approve (see table below).
The important consideration when developing the criteria for the first meal-type products was overall balance and the presence of positive nutrients, so meals must contain vegetables and fibre. More specifically, meals must be portion controlled (kilojoules/calories), low GI, contain an appropriate amount of carbohydrate (exchanges) and controlled sodium (salt) and saturated fat levels. Criteria development for other packaged food categories are in progress and we are going through the same development process for each.
On the menu?
The first five Made for You products are frozen meals: Supreme Pizza, Beef Lasagne, Vegetable Lasagne, Thai Green Chicken Curry and Thai Red Beef Curry available in the frozen section of Woolworths supermarkets. These first products were chosen because market research revealed people with diabetes wanted convenient, healthier versions of foods they considered off-limits.
Editor’s comment:
Thanks Nicole and congrats, it’s so encouraging to see the indepth planning and involvement of a dietitian in this process. Nutrient selection criteria is very tricky and I believe a comprehensive approach like D-tick is needed. I’m sorry I couldn’t make the launch but I hope some of our colleagues who attended can let us in on the taste? And I bet our readers have a question or few for you below?