I
vending machines
of food and beverages, as written, should provide consumers with useful news to make informed and safe purchasing choices. The topic deserves further study, which is offered here.
It is first appropriate to examine how companies that manage the sale of ‘food & beverage‘ through vending machines (DAs), fit into public and private facilities.
Vending machines in public facilities
DAs are present in most public facilities. Schools (1), hospitals, public administration offices, etc. In these cases, the DA companies in each institution were chosen through open competitive bidding.
Tender specifications and special specifications dictate the criteria for admission and the requirements companies must have in order to be eligible. The composition of the products forming the bid is also specified in the notice.
In practice, the bid must come composed of:
⁃
% organic foods,
⁃
% gluten-free products;
⁃
% sugar-free foods;
⁃
etc.
The composition obviously varies from call to call and facility to facility. So does the scoring that each drafting committee assigns to participants for the proposed product composition vary.
The complexity is considerable, where one considers the huge variety of products (organic, gluten-free, fruit, …) available on the market. And the consequent possibility-for less fair managers-to introduce new references of lower quality, in the stages following the awarding of tenders, without incurring objections.
The selection should therefore be done a priori, introducing more restrictive criteria on the characteristics of the products to be included already at the stage of drafting the calls for proposals. Prescribing candidates to offer:
– to the contracting entity, the data sheets of all products that will be placed in the vending machines,
– to end consumers, all news related to them. Which may be offered on the touchscreens of the most modern devices, or on special registers near older ones.
Vending machines in private facilities
The private facilities where DAs can be placed are the most diverse. Places of all kinds accessible to the public, from stations to sports and recreation centers, hotels, businesses including farms, private parking lots, condominiums, no limits to imagination.
The ‘invisible hand of the market’ dictates every rule, as the composition of supply is effectively left to free bargaining between private parties. Which in turn – except in very rare cases of appropriate ‘best practice’ commitments – have no strings attached. (2)
The public interest in promoting a balanced diet for citizens therefore gives way to the economic convenience of contractors. The DA manager may thus decide to favor sugary and carbonated drinks over natural mineral water, junk-food to snacks with more balanced nutritional profiles.
And when else, among everyone’s many commitments, will the officials of the company granting the space take care to assess the appropriateness of the products offered against rarely defined goals. In the face of agreements with operators that tend to be as binding, from the standpoint of space and timing of facilities, as they are generic about the composition of the foods placed there.
24-hour vending machines
Business and unruliness dominate the direct management of DAs, by their managers, in transient public places and ‘automated stores’. In these cases, the operator only needs a food and beverage administration license.
The only constraints are health constraints, which obviously include the information prescribed by EU Regulation 1169/11. Subject to the possibility of introducing minimum prescriptions on the composition of the offer, by local governments. And that of requiring the effective visibility of the information provided as mandatory on the labels of pre-packaged food, by the control authorities.
A key role is that of the authorities in charge of official public controls. Which are often found, according to experts, to be less rigorous than those performed in bars and other public establishments.
Vending machines, what scenario?
The consumer sector ‘
on the go
‘ is flourishing and destined for further growth. DA companies ensure acceptance checks on products (both food and beverage), scrupulously monitor expiration dates of perishable products, and ensure the cold chain.
Two critical points can be glimpsed:
– In informing consumers before the choice of purchase. Where still many machines do not bear evidence of allergens in foods sold in bulk (e.g., hot drinks). And the (almost?) totality is to this day devoid of news about pre-packed products,
– in the choice of products, which often overlooks the nutritional profiles of snacks, sweets and sugary drinks.
From words to actions, the recommendations of the trade association CONFIDA-which merely promotes undefined ‘healthy and balanced lifestyles‘-are entirely generic. While vending machines unfortunately abound with HFSS(High Fats, Sugars and Sodium) foods, otherwise known as junk-food, or junk food.
Therefore, the desirability and indeed the need for consumAtors to have access to healthy and balanced food through vending machines should be reiterated. As well as to know the precise characteristics-from ingredient list, allergens and nutritional table-of all foods offered.
Dario Dongo and Arturo Sorrentino
Notes
(1) In schools below junior high, DAs should only be available to faculty, secretary, ATA staff, management. According to CONFIDA’s recommendations.
(2) Without prejudice to the consumer information duties set forth in Reg. EU 1169/11, which can be derogated from only for the purpose of domestic consumption
(3) Without prejudice to the obligation of traceability of foods included in DAs, by handlers, in accordance with Reg. EC 178/02, Article 18
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
