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07.11.2017 - Foods

France adopts NUTRI-SCORE system!

Last week, the decision to introduce the Nutri-Score system was made in France. This national recommendation is based on Art. 35 of the FIC Regulation "Additional Forms of Indications and Presentation". In practice, this means that further parts of the food trade and some French food companies will voluntarily supplement the nutritional labeling of pre-packaged foods with the Nutri-Score system. This only affects processed foods; for unprocessed foods such as fresh fruit, vegetables, and fish, these labeling systems are not applicable.

The presentation of the nutritional declaration is done in addition to the mandatory information according to the FIC Regulation based on the provided diagram. For foods rated as healthy, the "A" is highlighted in green, progressing to the "grading" of unhealthy foods with the highlighted "E" in red. Germany and other EU member states had expressed concerns about this recommendation in France, but these were not taken into account.

A similar system for voluntary nutritional labeling has also existed in the UK since 2013. In Scotland, consultations are currently underway for the introduction of a comparable traffic light labeling system. It will take several months before the implementation of additional voluntary labeling of pre-packaged foods in France, but it is expected to achieve relatively widespread adoption. Unfortunately, this will not contribute positively to achieving the goal of uniform labeling of foods in EU countries.

More information about the NUTRI-SCORE system can be found at www.mangerbouger.fr.

We will continue to inform you about further developments on this topic. Our customer advisors are well-versed in food labeling regulations and will be happy to provide you with expert advice.