The first assessment 2019/2020 was conducted by researchers within Sciensano and was part of a larger European project on Science and Technology in Childhood Obesity Prevention (link is external) [2] (STOP) led by Imperial College London. 

The second assessment 2023-2024 was also conducted by researchers within Sciensano and was part of the European [3]FEAST project [4]. In this new assessment commitments related to environmental sustainability were also evaluated in addition to those population nutrition.

The project also forms a part of INFORMAS (link is external) [5] (International Network for Food and Obesity/NCDs Research, Monitoring and Action Support), a global network of public-interest organisations and researchers that seeks to monitor and benchmark public and private sector actions to create healthy food environments and reduce obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) globally. INFORMAS is coordinated by the University of Auckland (link is external) [6].

The BIA-Obesity consists of a range of indicators across six action domains (corporate nutrition strategy, product formulation, product labelling, product and brand promotion, product accessibility, relationships with other organisations). The BIA-Sustainability covers the following action domains: Corporate sustainability strategy, packaging, emissions, energy use, water and discharge, biodiversity, food loss and waste, environmental compliance, reducing animal-based products, sustainable products. Indicators are sector-specific and are tailored for the purposes of this project to the European context.

This process results in the development of scorecards for each company to enable comparison at a sector level both nationally and internationally. The project clearly highlights areas in which companies are demonstrating leadership in the prevention of obesity, and indicates specific areas for improvement at a company, sector and industry level.

The intention is to repeat this process on a regular basis and thus to track progress over time. The findings will be communicated broadly as part of efforts to increase awareness and accountability for action.