They recall that the European Commission had committed in 2021 to propose a mandatory nutrition information logo on the front of food packaging at EU level by 2023.
In a report published this Thursday morning, which franceinfo was able to consult, 320 scientists and health professionals, from 27 European countries and gathered in the “Group of EU scientists and health professionals supporting Nutri-Score”, call on the European Commission to “do not give in to pressure from lobbies” and to make the Nutri-Score mandatory in all European countries.
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The group of European scientists recalls that the European Commission had committed in 2021 to propose a mandatory nutrition information logo on the front of food packaging at EU level by 2023. “Since this announcement, powerful lobbies have been strongly mobilized to prevent the Nutri-Score from being chosen as the single and obligatory logo for Europe.“, they denounce.
“Under no circumstances give in to pressure from lobbies”
“At the origin of the anti-Nutri-Score pressures, we find the big food companies which have always opposed its implementation, such as Ferrero, Lactalis, Coca-Cola, Mars, Mondelez, Kraft“, they add, denouncing “absurd and dishonest arguments and many fake news“.”It is well known that his hesitation is linked to pressure from lobbies“, regrets the group of scientists, working in the fields of nutrition, obesity, public health, preventive medicine, endocrinology, cancerology, cardiology, pediatrics, psychology, European law and marketing social.
The report points out that “numerous scientific studies carried out over the past few years in some twenty countries demonstrate the effectiveness of the Nutri-Score in helping consumers to orient their choice towards foods of better nutritional quality and therefore more favorable to their health“. He also assures that its formal adoption in seven European countries to date, including France, “has demonstrated the feasibility of its deployment and the strong support of consumers who use it widely“.
According to them, the purpose of this report is to “remind the European authorities that their decision to introduce a mandatory nutritional logo for Europe must be based on science and public health and that they must in no case give in to pressure from lobbies that only defend economic interests“.