The battle for simplified and understandable food labelling for all was relaunched on Thursday 7 November by MEPs convinced that there is nothing better than the ‘Nutri-Score’ label to inform consumers about the nutritional quality of the processed foods and drinks they buy - a public health issue, they say.
Following an operation in a Brussels supermarket to label the products of large food companies refusing this label, these Greens/EFA and S&D MEPs called on Europeans to sign the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) ‘Pro-Nutriscore’ to encourage the Commission to take action.
Launched in May by consumer associations, the ECI asks the Commission to make Nutri-Score mandatory across the EU (see EUROPE 12258/7). This simple label, giving an overall nutritional score on a scale from ‘A’ to ‘E’, with colour codes, is applied to the front of food packaging in only a handful of countries (France, Belgium, Spain, soon Germany) and supported by 200 manufacturers.
The revision of the 2011 European Regulation (Regulation 1169/2011) ‘Food Information to Consumers’ would provide a unique opportunity to change the situation.
“Today, only 20% of products are labelled with Nutri-Score. We must mobilise to ensure that all food products are. It is very helpful in guiding consumer choice and very good for health”, said Michèle Rivasi (Greens/EFA, France). She recalled that in 2010, supporters of colour labelling (S&D, Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL) had lost the battle in Parliament (see EUROPE 10161/12).
“Who can oppose consumer information? If you are a true liberal, you must be in favour of information on nutritional quality”, said Greens/EFA President Philippe Lamberts (Belgium), recalling that at the time, “a majority in Parliament was against it as they were defending the market economy”. He said he was curious to know if Ursula von der Leyen would make some improvements. Tilly Metz (Luxembourg), from the same group, considers “European harmonisation very important, especially for small countries that import many products”.
MEP and Doctor Biljana Borzan (S&D, Croatia) recalled that in Europe, obesity affects 1 in 2 adults and 1 in 3 children.
Serge Hercberg, Professor of Nutrition (Faculty of Medicine, University of Paris 13) stressed that Nutri-Score is “a nutritional information system based on a simple algorithm, a science-based tool, developed 6 years ago in France and validated by 40 scientific publications as the most effective”.
One million signatures in seven countries are required by 8 May 2020. The petition has collected 76,000 signatures so far, “a low score, because citizens do not know about Nutri-Score. In the countries where it is present, we have a good support rate”, said BEUC Director Monique Goyens. To access the ECI: http://www.pronutriscore.eu (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)