A Dutch study published in Nutrients (Steenbergen et al., 2024) evaluates how the diffusion of Nutri-Score nutritional labelling, on shelf products in European supermarkets, can incentivize reformulation of foods and improvement of their nutritional profiles. (1)
1) Nutri-Score, the most widespread nutritional labelling
The FOPNL (Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling) Nutri-Score system – which classifies foods into five categories (from dark green to deep orange, corresponding to the letters from A to E) – has spread in many European countries, thanks to two factors:
– its official adoption in several Member States. In France, where its mandatory application is now being discussed, but also in Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany and most recently in Romania (2,3)
– the extraordinary diffusion of the Yuka and Open Food Facts apps, which base the evaluation of the nutritional quality of food products on the Nutri-Score and allow their consultation via smartphone. (4)
2) Nutri-Score and food reformulation, the study
The study in question (Steenbergen et al., 2024) aimed to assess the potential impact of Nutri-Score on the nutritional quality of food products available in European supermarkets.
The researchers of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, the University of Amsterdam and the Public Health Research Institute have examined:
– the evolution over time of the nutritional profiles of some food groups;
– changes in their respective Nutri-Score classifications.
2.1) Materials and methods
The data on the nutritional profiles of foods were extracted from the database of the EURIMO study (European Reformulation Monitoring Study), which recorded and monitored the contents of salt, sugar and fat in branded food products in 16 European countries. (5)
The selection considered, in relation to the period with greatest data availability (years 2019-2021):
– the five countries with the highest total number of products and information available for each food group: Austria, Belgium, Finland, Italy and the United Kingdom. Among them, Belgium is the only country to have introduced the Nutri-Score, in 2019;
– the four food groups where reformulation is easiest, by reducing the content of salt, sugar and saturated fatty acids. Bread and baked goods, breakfast cereals, spicy sauces and processed potato products;
– with exclusion of food groups smaller than 10 items in a given country and year.
2.2) Analysis
The analysis – conducted on 2,260 food products, selected with the methods described above and divided into groups of variable size between 10 and 183 articles for each country and year – has allowed us to:
– characterize the nutritional qualities and calculate the Nutri-Score scores of each product;
– track changes in average levels of salt, sugar and saturated fat, by food group, country and year;
– identify the Nutri-Score calculation factors by nutrient, food group, country and year.
2.3) Results
Over the years more favorable Nutri-Score ratings have been observed, overall, in most of the selected food groups and countries. In particular, due to the average reduction of:
- salt. -0,1-0,4 g/100 g in breakfast cereals, -0,1-1,2 g/100 g in processed potato products;
- sugar. -0,1-1,9 g/100 g in processed potato products, -0,7-2,2 g/100 g in baked products.
Values related to other nutrients, in the different food groups selected, did not show consistent variations in the five countries. Various favorable changes were observed, with the sole exception of Italy where an average increase in saturated fats was recorded (0,3 g/100 g). (6)
3) Provisional conclusions
‘The results of this study show that changes in food supply and its composition occurred in several European countries and food groups from 2019 to 2021. These results are in line with what was previously found in the Netherlands. (7) They confirm the indications according to which
– Nutri-Score classifications could be improved by favorably modifying the nutritional composition of foods’;
– from a different perspective, ‘ the Nutri-Score could discourage food producers from worsening their composition’. (1)
Dario Dongo
Credit cover. Delphine Goldsztejn, Le Parisien, 25.11.22 https://tinyurl.com/mr2ys56h
Footnotes
(1) Elly Steenbergen, M Joline WJ Beulens, Elisabeth HM Temme. Nutri-Score in the European Food Retail Supply: A Potential Incentive for Food Reformulation? Nutrients 2024, 16(23), 4184; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16234184
(2) Dario Dongo. France, Assembly gives green light to mandatory NutriScore. FT (Food Times).
(3) See paragraph 6 (Nutritional labelling, Nutri-Score) and note 15 in the previous article by Dario Dongo. Obesity, challenges and opportunities. EU report. FT (Food Times). October 21, 2024
(4) Marta Strinati. Yuka stimulates food reformulation and works on the eco-score. FT (Food Times).
(5) European Health and Digital Executive Agency (European Commission); ICF SA EU REformulation MOnitoring (EUREMO): Feasibility Study for a Monitoring System on Reformulation Initiatives for Salt, Sugars and Fat: Final Report https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2925/308861
(6) The nutritional profiles of the meta-product Immagino indicate a further increase in the levels of saturated fats in food products in Italy, in the period 1.7.23-30.6.24 (+ 0,5 g/100 g). See paragraph 1 (Meta-product Immagino, nutritional profiles) in the previous article Marta Strinati. Food consumption in Italy in the XVI edition of the Immagino Observatory. FT (Food Times).
(7) Steenbergen, E.; Temme, EH Comparison of the nutritional composition and calculated Nutri-score classifications of the Dutch food retail supply in 2018 and 2020. Public Health Nutr. 2024 Oct 10;27(1):e204. Doi: 10.1017/S136898002400154X
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
