Recently, the Ministry of Health announced that in 2019 a new food labeling system will come into effect to promote healthier consumption. This system, which is already in place in other European countries, has arrived with a lot of controversy because, while it provides more information to the consumer, it can also be misleading.
How Nutriscore Works
Nutriscore is a complementary system to traditional labeling that will be placed on the front of all food products. It resembles a five-color traffic light with a letter inside each color. Healthier foods will be placed in the better colors. To assign a color to each product, a nutritional analysis is first conducted, where some components subtract points and others add points. Calories, sugar, salt, and saturated fats are penalized, while fiber and proteins score higher. A mathematical operation is then performed, taking into account the proportion of each ingredient per hundred grams of the product. The final score will place each product in the corresponding color and letter.
Negative Aspects
The aim of this new system is to provide simple and quick information to the consumer to help reduce the consumption of unhealthy foods. The reason for the controversy is that, due to its simplicity, it can cause confusion with some products. The most controversial example has been olive oil, which has a poor rating, worse than some sugar-free sodas, despite being a very healthy and necessary food in our daily diet.
Considerations to Keep in Mind
To avoid mistakes, we recommend that you only compare foods of the same type. Additionally, do not take it at face value; analyze the product or consult experts if you have doubts.
In some countries, such as France, the system has been adapted to avoid confusion, and it is likely that a similar adaptation will occur in our country.
Although it is a good initiative to alert us if we are buying too many unhealthy products, we advise you to make realistic purchases, following a balanced and Mediterranean diet.
