Several European consumer associations launch a petition on Monday to ask the European Commission to make mandatory the Nutri-score, a "simplified nutritional labeling that has proved its effectiveness" on food products, and which is beginning to be adopted by industry .
A currently optional system
Already implemented in France since the autumn of 2017, but optionally because of the current European regulations, as well as in Belgium and Spain, this labeling system is based on five letters (A, B, C, D, E) and a color code, from green to red, depending on the nutritional quality of the food.
Due to its optional nature, it "hardly develop in the shelves," said in a statement the French association UFC-Que Choisir, at the origin of the petition with six others: Test-Achat (Belgium), VZBV ( Germany), Consumentenbond (Netherlands), OCU (Spain), Federajca Konsumentow (Poland) and EKPIZO (Greece).
A public health measure
Assuming that "the poor nutritional quality of too many industrial foods is one of the major causes of high rates of obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes" and that "the complexity tables (...) on the packaging results in 82% of consumers do not understand them ", these associations decided to act.
"One million signatures are needed for the Commission to respond: then, to know what we eat, protect our health and encourage industries to improve the composition of their products, together, require the Commission to make the Nutri-score mandatory ", they exhort.
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According to these associations, several national and international studies have pointed out that the Nutri-score was "the most effective simplified nutritional labeling" in order to help consumers in their everyday purchases of food products.