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Article History

Received: 2 August 2025

Accepted: 1 December 2025

First Online: 25 December 2025

Declarations

:

: This research has been approved by the Ethics Committees of the University of the Western Cape (BM22/2/7), the University of Cape Town (HREC 567/2022) and the LMU Munich (22–0505). To ensure anonymity, all names were pseudonymised after data collection. Only pseudonymised data were used for further data processing and analysis. Only the researchers CK and PD have access to the identification key that link the survey and workshop contributions to the experts’ identities. The consultation workshop was audio recorded to systematically summarise all relevant information. The audio recordings were destroyed after transcription. To ensure confidentiality, all data files are stored on password-protected servers of the Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry, and Epidemiology (IBE) at the LMU Munich, the University of the Western Cape, and the University of Cape Town. All data will be destroyed at the latest 10 years after the study is published. The identifiable data as well as the files with the recorded consent were treated confidentially and were not accessible by third parties. All members of the study team are under duty of confidentiality. In all publications about this research project the experts’ identities will be protected. Experts were able to choose whether or not to have their name listed in the ‘Acknowledgement’ section of this publication.

: Not applicable.

: CK is a member of the German Nutrition Society (DGE) and the BerufsVerband Oecotrophologie (VDOE). MT has previously worked for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). LV and GS engage with the food industry as part of their research programmes but have never accepted any funding from food industry groups.

: The authors declare no competing interests.