Event Conference Euro Health Net: Are ultra-processed foods the next addiction? Lessons from tobacco for Europe’s regulatory response

Conference Euro Health Net: Are ultra-processed foods the next addiction? Lessons from tobacco for Europe’s regulatory response

Date/Time
Date(s) - 06/10/2026
13:30 - 17:00

Location
Press Club Brussels Europe

Categories


Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) already make up a large share of what Europeans eat, and the research tying them to obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases keeps growing, piling pressure on health systems and public budgets. Yet Europe’s response has stalled: key measures under the Farm to Fork strategy(opens in new tab) have been delayed, watered down or quietly shelved. 

This was never just about willpower. UPFs are designed to be overeaten, engineered to make the unhealthy choice the cheap, easy default. 

When it came to tobacco, the EU proved it could act decisively to protect its citizens’ health. Marketing restrictions, health warnings and taxation reshaped behaviour across the union and became one of the EU’s defining public health achievements. Now, striking new evidence(opens in new tab) shows why that track record matters for what’s on our plates: the same corporations that built the cigarette business, using the same tactics, helped engineer today’s UPFs. 

Europe rewrote the rules on tobacco. The question now is whether it can do the same for UPFs.

Agenda

13:30 – 14:00 – Welcome and registration

14:00 – 14:05 – Opening remarks

  • Chair: Caroline Costongs – Director, EuroHealthNet

14:05 – 14:25 – Keynote: Commercial Determinants of Health: From Cigarettes to Ultra- Processed Foods

  • Laura A. Schmidt PhD, Professor, UCSF School of Medicine, on how the tobacco industry engineered and spread ultra-processed foods, and what tobacco control teaches us about regulating them.

14:25 – 14:45 – Moderated discussion — a facilitated fireside conversation with Prof Schmidt drawing out the policy implications of the keynote for the EU(opens in new tab)

Moderators:

  • Caroline Costongs – Director, EuroHealthNet
  • Luc Hagenaars PhD – Assistant Professor, Amsterdam UMC

14:45 – 14:55 – Refreshments

14:55 – 15:20 – Moderated panel — EU policymakers respond to the keynote and discussion, focusing on the regulatory options for UPFs in Europe(opens in new tab)

Moderator: Caroline Costongs – Director, EuroHealthNet
Panellists

  • Dr Romana Jerković – Member of the European Parliament, S&D, Croatia
  • Laurence Doughan, Senior expert in Nutrition and Food policy – Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Belgium
  • Maria João Gregório, PhD, Director of the National Healthy Eating Promotion Program – Directorate-General of Health, Portugal
  • Marleen Kestens, Manager CVD Prevention Policies, European Heart Network, and Co-lead, Food Environments Task Force – EU Food Policy Coalition

15:20 – 15:50 – Open Q&A — audience questions to Prof. Schmidt and the panellists

Moderator: Joreintje Mackenbach, PhD – Associate Professor, Amsterdam UMC

15:50 – 16:00 – Summary of findings & Closing remarks(opens in new tab)

Moderators:

  • Luc Hagenaars PhD – Assistant Professor, Amsterdam UMC
  • Caroline Costongs – Director, EuroHealthNet

From 16:15 – Press conference with Prof. Laura A. Schmidt

Registration and further information

For further information, please contact EuroHealthNet’s Policy Officer, Rebecca-Evelyn Papp at: r-e.papp@eurohealthnet.eu

 

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