Nutritional commitment charters: an economic analysis of the failure of a theoretical gamble.

Summary The implementation of the voluntary nutritional progress charters marks a turning point in the French nutritional health policy developed since 2001 through the National Nutrition and Health Plan (PNNS). The implementation of the PNNS marked a revival of nutritional prevention actions which, with the onset of food abundance, had gradually lost interest in the general population to focus on risks concerning specific populations (elderly people, pregnant women, etc.). The PNNS was based on an expert report of the High Committee on Public Health of June 2000, which elevated nutritional health policy to the level of policies against smoking and alcoholism and justified the transformation of food into an epidemiological risk factor by joint changes in food supply (due to industrialization and globalization) and demand (food consumption patterns) (Hercberg, Tallec, 2000). While the Hercberg-Tallec report explicitly proposed the use of tools to regulate the market in order to "contribute to the achievement of the selected public health objectives", the first PNNS (2001-2005) focused its actions on consumers alone.