Voluntary strategies to promote healthier eating: The legal landscape for public health practitioners

Within public health, many efforts are underway to use law and policy as tools for creating environments that promote healthier eating and active living. When designing interventions to address these issues, governments have a range of strategies available, from legislative to voluntary and incentive-based. Voluntary strategies can be particularly useful, but can be overlooked during the process of developing policy options. They have potential as valuable public health policy tools, especially in areas lacking clear best practices or where a complementary program would be of benefit to communities. Engagement of the retail food sector to offer healthier options is one area where voluntary strategies are currently being implemented and tested in their natural environments. In creating such programs, it is critical to identify and address potential legal concerns. For example, the development of clear standards that can be fairly applied to all applicants of a voluntary program is important for government-led efforts. This presentation will discuss the experiences of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in developing and launching a voluntary partnership with local restaurants to promote healthier choices for consumers. Restaurants joining the partnership choose to operate in compliance with standards for healthier dining options developed and monitored by the health department. Examples of potential legal issues and the manner in which the program addressed them will be discussed in this presentation.