In April this year researchers Tim Lang, Geoff Rayner and Elizabeth Kaelin, from the Centre for Food Policy, City University, London, came out with a report: The food industry, diet, physical activity and health: a review of reported commitments and practice of 25 of the world's largest food companies. It audited the top 10 food manufacturers, 10 food retailers and five food service companies in the world, comparing their marketing strategies against WHO's policies to tackle obesity and other diet-related diseases. Only a few pass muster.

"Their performance is by and large pathetic,' Lang is reported having said. "The companies that appear to be doing the most are the ones under intense pressure because their product ranges are the unhealthiest, but there is a whiff of desperation about what they are doing rather than long-term commitment to better food.'

The main findings of the report were:

• Five out of 25 companies reported acting on sugar

• Four out of 25 reported acting on fat

• Eight out of 25 reported acting on trans-fats

• Ten out of 25 reported acting on salt

• Two reported acting on portion sizes