Packaged food and drinks should have easy-to-read nutrition information on the front of the products to help consumers make healthy choices, according to the World Health Organization’s first draft guidelines that have stopped recommending strong warning labels.
The increased consumption of processed foods high in salt, sugar and fat is the main cause of the global obesity problem, with more than a billion people living with the disease and an estimated eight million dying prematurely every year from related health problems such as diabetes and heart disease. disease, WHO data shows.
However, governments have struggled to introduce policies to curb the epidemic. Currently, only 43 WHO member countries have any form of mandatory or voluntary labeling, the UN organization told Reuters, despite evidence showing labels can affect purchasing behavior.
The WHO began working on draft guidelines, which have not been reported before, in 2019. They aim to “support consumers in making healthy food-related decisions,” Katrin Engelhardt, a scientist at the WHO’s Nutrition and Food Safety department, told Reuters by email.
Public consultation on the guidelines closed on Oct. 11 and the finished version will be released in early 2025.
WHO guidance recommends that governments use “interpretive” labels that include nutritional information and a specific explanation of what that means in terms of the health of the product.
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An example would be the NutriScore, developed in France and used in several European countries, which ranks food from A (green, containing essential nutrients) to E (red, containing high levels of added salt, sugar, fat or calories).
Chile and several other Latin American countries implement a stricter system, with warnings that foods are “high in sugar,” salt or fat on the front of the package, in a black triangle that resembles a stop sign. Food label expert Lindsey Smith Taillie, who is director of the Global Food Research Program at the University of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said the food industry has pushed back on warnings and favors “uninterpretable” labels, which include nutritional information. there is no guidance on how to understand what that means, like those used in the United States.
This week, US Senator Bernie Sanders announced plans for a Senate hearing on strict food labeling in December. While the WHO recommendation goes further than the industry prefers, it is “weak,” Taillie said.
“The most important thing in many countries around the world will be to reduce the excess intake of added sugar, sodium, saturated fat and highly processed foods – which is what warning labels can do.”
A study conducted this summer by Taillie showed Chile’s warning labels, along with other policies such as restrictions on marketing to children, mean Chileans buy 37% less sugar, 22% less sodium, 16% less saturated fat and Calories are 23% lower compared to the rule.
The WHO said there was insufficient evidence to determine the best labeling system.
The International Food and Beverage Alliance, whose members include the Coca Cola Company and Mondelez International Inc, said its members already have the lowest standards globally. It includes listing nutrients on the back of packages, and front-of-pack information on at least the energy content where possible, in accordance with the Codex Alimentarius international system.
“This is something that international companies can do, but obviously it is not enough because if you take Nigeria or Pakistan … the market is full of local producers,” said Rocco Renaldi, Secretary-General of the IFBA. He said members of the coalition broadly support the WHO guidelines and label based on ingredients.
“But the devil is in the details – strictly speaking, we don’t support methods that demonize certain products,” he said. “We don’t think that health warning labels are for food products that are considered safe, approved and marketed, and popular with consumers.”
(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby, editing by Michele Gershberg and Kim Coghill)
