HEART UK - The Cholesterol Charity - provided extensive detailed information to the producers of the Channel 4 Dispatches programme (26 October 2009) as requested, but was very disappointed that these facts and figures, supported by valid, independent research, were ignored.
HEART UK commissioned the Product Approval Working Group (PAWG) to ensure that the Charity’s relationships with food companies remain transparent.  PAWG’s remit is to scrutinise the work of HEART UK in relation to all commercial product company applications.  Each individual product has to go through a strict scrutiny and appraisal procedure before its Manufacturer is allowed to incorporate the Charity’s logo on any packaging.  HEART UK’s procedures are based upon best practice of the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Regardless of any previous approval, every product has to meet agreed nutritional and scientific criteria and if, on balance, PAWG judge that these criteria have been met, only then do the organisation and charity work together to establish and develop a joint partnership project.
An integral element of HEART UK’s association with all those in the Corporate Sector is to ensure partnerships are initiated for positive awareness projects which emphatically benefit patients and importantly projects where heart disease is prevented particularly in children.