The Safe Hearts Plan represents the first ever comprehensive EU-wide approach to tackling cardiovascular disease. It focuses on the particular needs of vulnerable groups, especially children, young people and women, and supports Member States and stakeholders across health promotion and prevention, early detection and screening, treatment and care, and rehabilitation.

The Safe Hearts Plan contains the following 10 ambitious and impactful flagship initiatives with EU added value:

1. A lifelong, personalised and digitally enabled prevention programme – ‘EU cares for your heart’
2. Empowering consumers through information on food processing in the EU
3. Modernising tobacco control legislation
4. The Commission will examine which appropriate tools, including possible financial actions, could be deployed to support/fund public health actions in the field of primary prevention and stimulate food reformulation and healthier consumer choices
5. Proposal for a Council recommendation on vaccination against respiratory infections as a preventive measure for cardiovascular diseases
6. EU protocol on health checks for cardiovascular diseases
7. Proposal for a Council recommendation on personalised treatment and monitoring of cardiovascular diseases
8. Incubator for innovation and integration of AI and digital technologies in cardiovascular healthcare
9. EU cardiovascular health inequalities dashboard
10. Cardiovascular Disease Research and Innovation Roadmap.

In addition to these major public health benefits, the Safe Hearts Plan aims to contribute to a stronger, more resilient and more competitive EU, by reducing the impact of cardiovascular diseases (as well as diabetes and obesity as they are closely related) on the economy and boosting EU innovation in this field.

Of particular attention to the food industry are these two following flagship measures - further detail:

Flagship initiative 2: empowering consumers through information on food processing in the EU The Commission will work towards a new comprehensive food processing assessment system, looking into portions, frequency of intake and role in the diet, to empower consumers with transparent, accessible, science-based digital information on food processing, with the aim to ultimately encourage shifts towards healthier diets.

Flagship initiative 4: based on the outcome of the study on so-called ‘ultra-processed foods’, the Commission will examine which appropriate tools, including possible financial actions, could be deployed to support/fund public health actions in the field of primary prevention and stimulate food reformulation and healthier consumer choices