A collective of 1,142 doctors and scientists working in the health sector are launching an appeal today in Paris to the Prime Minister to introduce the obligation to include the Nutri-Score on food labels in France (1,2).
1) Nutri-Score and public health
‘The Nutri-Score nutritional logo is a real tool for public health with a solid scientific basis. In particular, it has been validated by over a hundred studies conducted in 20 countries, which have demonstrated its effectiveness in improving consumer food intake.
Numerous studies involving tens or even hundreds of thousands of people in Europe have shown that the consumption of foods better classified by the Nutri-Score is associated with a lower risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity and metabolic disorders, as well as premature mortality.
An OECD report in 2024 estimated that 2 million cases of chronic diseases could be avoided in Europe by 2050 if the Nutri-Score were to become generalized. (3) The Nutri-Score is a simple preventive measure that can help reduce the risk of chronic diseases and, in addition to its impact on the health of consumers, it also has an economic and social impact’.
2) NutriScore, the battle of Big Food
EREN scientists -the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team at CRESS (Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Statistics), at the Sorbonne University Paris Nord – proposed the NutriScore in 2014. It was officially adopted in France on 31 October 2017, ‘after a tough battle with the agri-food lobbies’.
The application of the Nutri-Score on food labels is still voluntary, since the Food Information Regulation (EU) No 1169/11 – under pressure from Big Food lobbies – has only allowed Member States to recommend summary nutritional labelling (Article 35.2). On the other hand, as we have seen, no Member State can prohibit the use of the NutriScore on a voluntary basis (4,5).
The global giants of junk-food (Ferrero, Coca-Cola, Mars, Lactalis, Mondelez, Kraft, etc.) continue to fight both this system, even in international contexts, and other synthetic nutritional labelling systems. (6) Up to Mexico which, however, unlike the timid EU instructions, has been able to introduce an effective FOPNL (Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling) system. (7,8)
3) Consumers, transparency on labels is a priority
After a timid debut – no members in 2014, only six in 2017 – food companies and retail have been able to intercept the growing consumer interest towards transparency on the nutritional profiles of foods. To the point that today the NutriScore is used on products of over 1.400 brands, which express approximately the 60% of the food market in France.
Consumer associations in turn – from Foodwatch to BEUC, which brings together 43 consumer associations in various EU countries in Brussels (including AltroConsumo in Italy) – are loudly calling for the NutriScore system to be made mandatory at EU level, as an indispensable tool for nutritional education and the improvement of public health.
Some industries who had already joined Nutri-Score – Danone first and foremost, as well as Ecotone and Pagen, owners of the brands Bjorg and Krisprolls – have instead decided to remove NutriScore from some of their brands in a miserable attempt to hide their unbalanced nutritional profiles. An own goal on the front of social responsibility and reputation, in fact stigmatized by the media as we have seen. (9)
4) European Commission, JRC, stakeholders
The European Commission, under the previous mandate of Ursula von der Leyen, had promised in April 2021 that it would adopt a uniform FOPNL (Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling) standard to be adopted in the European Union by the end of 2022. (10) The opposing industrial lobbies have prevailed, as two years later the Commission has neither kept this promise nor otherwise justified its failure to comply.
JRC– the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission – has meanwhile validated the calculation algorithm and the graphic format of NutriScore, confirming the solidity of its scientific background. (11) The results of the public consultations conducted by the European Commission in 2021-2022, the positions expressed by the scientific community and health professional communities (EUPHA) are also unanimous in considering Nutri-Score as the most effective method to help consumers choose more balanced foods. (12)
5) Doctors and health scientists, the Paris appeal
‘In the absence of a decision by the European Commission, which
-hesitates in the face of agri-food lobbies and their political supporters and
-does not assume its responsibilities to protect the health of European consumers’ by adopting the only nutritional logo based on solid scientific data
A collective of 1,142 scientists and health professionals, in Paris, asks the Prime Minister to
-‘to make the historic and pioneering decision to make Nutri-Score mandatory on all food packaging in France and
–encourage the other 7 countries that have adopted the Nutri-Score to do the same, in the name of protecting public health.
The failure to make the Nutri-Score mandatory represents an unacceptable loss of opportunity for citizens’. As recently highlighted, it is recalled, in a specific report of the European Parliament. (13)
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) The full text of the appeal ‘A group of scientists and health professionals calls on the Prime Minister to make the Nutri-Score mandatory. This is a public health emergency’, with the list of the first 1.142 signatories, is available on the NutriScore blog https://tinyurl.com/3bn5rt2p
(2) All health professionals and scientists working in the field of health who wish to join this initiative can sign the appeal and join the Collective by filling in the form available on https://tinyurl.com/2yt54phm
(3) Marta Strinati. NutriScore and three other nutrition labels compared. OECD study. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 16.2.24
(4) NutriScore, can it be applied in Italy? Lawyer Dario Dongo answers. DO (Food and Agriculture Requirements). 26.12.21
(5) Dario Dongo. Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labeling – Legitimacy of Using the Nutri-Score System in EU Member States. European Food and Feed Law Review. Volume 17, Issue 4 (2022) pp. 316 – 324
(6) Dario Dongo. Codex Alimentarius, the NutriScore and the WHO guidelines. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 29.9.21
(7) Dario Dongo. NAFTA, CETA and health. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 25.3.18
(8) Dario Dongo. Mexico, nutritional warnings on the front label. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10.2.20
(9) Dario Dongo. Nutri-score, Danone backtracks. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 6.9.24
(10) Dario Dongo. NutriScore and nutritional profiles, updates from Brussels. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10.05.21
(11) Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. European Commission, research confirms NutriScore approach. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 14.9.22
(12) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. NutriScore, a report by 320 scientists to urge the European Commission. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 12.5.23
(13) Dario Dongo. Obesity, challenges and opportunities. EU report. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 21.10.24
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
