Seven years after its introduction in France, new research suggests that Nutri-Score has significantly altered the composition and packaging of food products.
A new study published in the European Review of Agricultural Economics provides evidence that food producers are changing their products to secure higher ratings from the front-of-pack food labeling system.
This scientific study is the first to demonstrate the impact of Nutri-Score on the nutritional composition of food products following its national-level introduction.
“Our paper analyzes the changes to the nutritional values of food,” said Christoph Bauner, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts and co-author of the study. “We do not test the mechanism that causes these changes. So, from a strict statistical sense, we cannot say that Nutri-Score’s impact on consumer choices is the driving factor.”
“Practically, I believe it is very difficult to come up with another plausible mechanism that would lead to the observed results,” he added. “There is literature suggesting that consumers are more likely to opt for products that score better on Nutri-Score, and the link to producer strategies is straightforward.”
See Also:New Research Rekindles Debate on Nutri-Score’s EffectivenessPrevious research has shown that consumers favor products with higher Nutri-Score ratings.
Nutri-Score is a traffic-light-style FOPL that uses a combination of five coordinated colors and letters to rate how healthy a packaged food item is based on its fat, sugar, salt and calorie content per 100-gram or milliliter serving. The “Green A” indicates the healthiest option, and “Red E” denotes the least healthy.
“This scientific study is the first to demonstrate the impact of Nutri-Score on the nutritional composition of food products following its national-level introduction,” said Serge Hercberg, a professor of nutrition at Sorbonne Paris North University and founder of Nutri-Score.
The study compared the nutritional profiles and contents of selected food products between 2014 and 2021.
“Our analysis shows a significant improvement in Nutri-Scores of new products, implying that the overall product composition became healthier after the Nutri-Score introduction,” the researchers wrote.
Hercberg emphasized that the study observed a shift toward healthier items. “‘Conversely, this trend was not observed in Italy or the United Kingdom, two countries that have not adopted Nutri-Score,” he said.
Another study recently published by the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity found that displaying Nutri-Score ratings in food advertisements can influence consumer choices.
“All scientific findings on Nutri-Score’s impact confirm that this straightforward transparency tool is crucial in helping consumers make healthier food choices and encouraging manufacturers to enhance the nutritional quality of their products,” Hercberg said.
Bauner noted that while the report focuses solely on the French market, Nutri-Score’s reach expands. “Since identical food products are often marketed in multiple countries, this may lead to added incentives for producers to improve their products’ nutritional profiles,” he said.
However, Bauner added that publishing Nutri-Score labels on a product is still voluntary in France and that by the end of the study period, only about 50 percent of products in France featured one.
“If this percentage increases, then the incentives would apply to more products,” he said. “The percentage of products displaying Nutri-Score could increase, for example, if Nutri-Score becomes mandatory or if consumers interpret the lack of the Nutri-Score label as evidence of an unhealthy product and this becomes evident to producers.”
Bauner emphasized that the study results should not be extrapolated to other labeling systems.
“However, similar impacts have been demonstrated for other front-of-package labels, particularly for the mandatory warning labels in Chile,” he said. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that just any labeling system will generate similar results as the system’s specifics will influence the underlying incentives.”
Interest in Nutri-Score’s impact on food is growing across Europe. On April 4th, Portugal formally introduced Nutri-Score.
The decision allows producers and retailers to adopt Nutri-Score voluntarily. According to the Portuguese government, introducing the Nutri-Score is a public health measure that promotes healthy nutrition.
Portugal now joins the growing list of European countries that have adopted Nutri-Score, including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.
However, a sizeable bloc of countries, including Italy, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Latvia and Romania, is also opposed to Nutri-Score.
Italy has spearheaded the effort to oppose the European-wide adoption of the FOPL and instead proposed the locally devised Nutrinform Battery.
Instead of rating individual food items, Nutrinform Battery pairs food composition with suggested servings. Its backers argue that this approach promotes healthy dietary habits without prescribing and prohibiting specific food items.
The prolonged and intense debate over adopting a mandatory E.U.-wide front-of-package label, for which Nutri-Score was long viewed as the potential front-runner, has slowed significantly ahead of this year’s European elections.
Nutri-Score advocates hope the new European parliament and commission will rejuvenate efforts regarding the front-of-package labeling initiative.
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