Question écrite de
Mme Mara BIZZOTTO
-
Commission européenne
Subject: Nutri-score labelling: misleading and discriminating against top-quality ‘Made in Italy’ food products.
The Nutri-score system uses five colours labelled from A to E to indicate whether a food is healthy or unhealthy, based on saturated fat, salt or sugar content for example. It does not, however, indicate recommended intake as part of a balanced diet. As a result, many PDO/PGI ‘Made in Italy’ products (including Grana Padano, Parmigiano Reggiano, Parma ham or extra-virgin olive oil) are considered unhealthy and labelled with a red D or E sticker, while certain fizzy drinks are given green B stickers to denote healthy foods. This colour-coded labelling system, which is already being used in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Spain, penalises traditional labelling with geographical indications. Italian producer associations regard the Nutri-score system as discriminatory, since it gives distorted and incomplete information regarding nutritional values, arbitrarily classifying as dangerous many Mediterranean food products. This is simply misleading consumers, rather than providing accurate and impartial information about agri-food products. In view of this:
1. Will the Commission seek to end the Nutri-score labelling system, which is encouraging unbalanced and unhealthy diets?
2. How will it protect high-quality PDO/PGI products from labelling schemes such as Nutri-score?
3. In view of the answer to my question E-003663/2017, can give its conclusions with regard to labelling on the basis of the report that it should have presented to Parliament in December 2017?
Answer given by Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission
(18 February 2020)
1. Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (1) sets out that certain particulars of the mandatory nutrition declaration on prepacked foods may be repeated on the front-of-pack. Further information concerning the nutritional properties of a food may be given on a voluntary basis as long as it is consistent with the legal requirements of Regulations (EU) No 1169/2011 and (EC) No 1924/2006 (2). The Commission has assessed the compliance of Nutri-Score with the EU legislation in the context of notifications of national measures by France and Belgium, to which it did not object.
2. Nutri-Score is a voluntary nutritional logo for foods (3). Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) are two quality schemes under European law protecting the name of products which come from a specific region and follow a particular production process laid down in the product specification. It is up to food business operators to decide whether or not to apply the Nutri-Score logo on the food they commercialise in Member States where Nutri-Score has been adopted by the authorities, including on PGI and PDO products.
3. Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 requires the Commission to submit a report on additional forms of expression and presentation of the nutrition declaration. The report will also include other schemes providing front-of-pack nutrition information. The conclusions of the report, expected to be adopted in the first semester of 2020, will serve to inform the further debate in this area. In the Farm to Fork Strategy, to be presented in spring 2020 as part of the European Green Dea l (4), the Commission will explore new ways to improve consumer information on details such as the nutritional value of food.
⋅1∙ Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers (OJ L 304,
22.11.2011, p. 18).
⋅2∙ Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods (OJ L 404,
30.12.2006, p. 9)
⋅3∙ The draft laws notified by France and Belgium describe the methods for calculating the nutritional score of foods based on their nutritional composition i.e. the
amount of some nutrients in the food (saturated fats, sugars, sodium, fibre or protein), the energy value and the presence of some ingredients (fruit and vegetable, legume and nut content of the food); foods are divided into five categories on the basis of this score. ⋅4∙ https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en