Francúzsko

During the project phase (2009-2011) and before the creation of the tools and the launch of communication campaigns, the Consortium took several actions to understand what had been done so far in health promotion at the workplace and to determine the needs of both target groups, employees and restaurants.

A detailed inventory of existing programmes related to nutritional interventions was first conducted. This review of existing programmes was carried out in order to understand the initiatives already conducted in the various countries regarding interventions to promote healthy eating through a work setting. The core of the review focused on initiatives targeting balanced food in restaurants and those targeting employees in a company setting.

70 programmes matched the review criteria in the 6 countries and were entered into the study.

Summary

In summary, quite a few interventions and programmes were included in the inventory from France. Unlike Italy where most of the programmes were offered by public bodies, here in France (apart from the PNNS) all were offered by private companies, several of them from the food industry. Apart from three programmes, all were free to use. The cost was not specified in all but one programme. Half of the programmes had evaluation planned with two of these evaluating the programme itself. A general lack of addressing the subject of physical activity was noticed, as was the absence of a glossary or references to books on the subject.

The review of the existing programmes included in the inventory enabled the partners to draw several common conclusions:

• There was a general lack of evaluation of most programmes
• The projects were not well promoted
• Target audiences were mostly passive
• Low presence of professionals
• Unsuitable tools were created as a result of wrong assessment of the target audience’s
• Lack of visibility and clarity of the tools created

Following the review of existing programmes and based on the main findings, a survey was launched, with two questionnaires: one aimed at restaurants and the other at employees. The survey was conducted in each of the participating countries through Edenred’s network, designed by the CIRIHA and the Institute Paul Bocuse and later analysed by the Research Centre of the Institute Paul Bocuse, in France.

At least 52,000 employees and 5,000 restaurants were targeted by the questionnaires in the six participating countries. A total of 4,529 employees and 399 restaurants responded to the questionnaires, a response rate above the 5% that was anticipated.

Employees

1,959 employees responded to the questionnaire from France, the biggest response (nearly three time the average response) out of the six countries (Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden) From this initial survey, some important results emerged that helped to shape the first set of tools and messages.

The following graph analyses the overall weight of employees. Only around a third claim to be overweight or obese, lower than the OECD estimate. This may be a result of the survey demographics, which was composed of 74.2% women with more than half of the respondents under 35 years of age.

Figure 1: Breakdown of employee reported weight

The largest number of employees out of the six countries claimed to have knowledge of a national programme dealing with balanced food (74%). The two popular definitions for balanced food chosen were eating: ‘various foods in moderate amount, in a nice environment’ and ‘eating pleasant food while at the same time protecting your health’.

79% of respondents claimed to have a lunch break daily and the most respondents out of the six countries claimed to never have a break (6.7%). Out of those who have a lunch break, 32.1% eat out, 26.6% go home during lunch and the majority (41.3%) have food brought from home. The main reason for not eating out for those who would have time to do so and do not bring their own food is restaurant food being too high in calories (19.5%).

Figure 2: Breakdown of lunch places frequented by French employees:

The employees eating out tend to choose a restaurant close to their workplace (55.5%) and which is cheap (50.2%). In line with the results from the other six countries, French employees choose what to eat when eating out depending on what they want at that moment (65.7%). Price again was the next most important determinant (36.7%).

Over half of respondents spotted nutritional information in the restaurants they eat in, yet this information was not easily found (78.6%) and not always clear (63.5%). Having nutritional information is useful thought 70.1% of respondents and triggers positive eating habits (74%). 58% of respondents would have liked an icon indicating the balanced meal and 42% wish to know the calorific value of their chosen dish.

Restaurants

Again in France, the most responses to the questionnaire were received with 91 restaurants participating; just over half of them independently run. A special lunch ‘formula’ was offered by half of the restaurants surveyed.

Figure 3: Respondents’ restaurant classification:

Similar to the response by the employees, restaurant owners were aware of the existence of a programme on balanced nutrition (62.8%). Most respondents thought these programmes were government run; yet 72.5% did not know the name of the programme. These results indicate that despite the fact that such programmes are becoming popular and restaurateurs are more aware of them, they do not always leave a strong or lasting impression on this target audience.

Respondents who were aware of a nutritional programme tended to also follow its recommendations such as reducing salt, fat and sugar in preparing their dishes and offering more fruit and vegetables. The minority not following any recommendations (37.2%) blamed it on lack of time and budget. Another reason given by 45.5% of respondents for not following recommendations was lack of demand by customers. This answer slightly contradicts the fact that over half of employees surveyed claimed to choose their restaurant based on its menus and nutritional information offered.

Figure 4: Restaurant owners’ knowledge about balanced food

Restaurant owners were willing to participate in improving their customers’ health. None of the respondents, as evident from the previous graph, were uninterested in balanced food. Out of the 28.2% of respondents who saw obstacles to promoting balanced food, budget and time were perceived to be the main barriers. Those interested in improving their knowledge would mainly prefer training (50%) and wished to be contacted by email.

The response from France was the biggest for both sectors that also claimed to have knowledge and interest in the issues relating to balanced food. A third of French employees eat in a restaurant at lunchtime with the rest preferring homemade food. The choice of restaurant was most often based on proximity to the workplace and price. Working directly with the restaurants and providing employees with a list of restaurants close to their workplace offering balanced food and signposting the healthy meal option (despite its complicated implementation) could help them eat better and make healthier choices in the future.

In parallel with the quantitative survey, a qualitative restaurant study has been conducted in 2009. This survey was conducted in twelve countries (Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Morocco, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom) and five restaurants were chosen in each country. The aims of the survey were to understand how and why chefs cook the way they do, and what could trigger a change in attitude. The next stage was to try and convince restaurants that cooking healthily has many benefits with no additional costs.

The five participating restaurants varied in type and in attitude toward healthy cooking. Apart from one traditional restaurant that was not interested in healthy food or making changes to its cooking despite noticing a change in people’s eating habits, all other were very much in favour.

Following on from the demand from their clients, the restaurant owners found healthy cooking an important subject and not just a passing trend. Very positively, they use seasonal fresh produce and do not perceive it to be more expensive. Emphasis was given to producing healthier dishes that are both tasty and high quality. They were all interested in training to help make balanced dishes that are not time consuming.