• Professional health groups petition von der Leyen to make Nutri-Score mandatory EU label
• Petition demands European Commission President defends Nutri-Score against lobbies
• Call on industry to join 800 brands that already use Nutri-Score

A group of 36 professional associations working in the health and nutrition fields has joined forces to support a Change.org petition calling on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to defend the Nutri-Score against attacks from "lobbies" and make it the mandatory EU front-of-pack nutrition label.

The petition, in French with English, Spanish then Italian versions below, had 35,374 signatures before going to press. At 50,000 signatures, it becomes one of the top signed on Change.org, the petitions website notes.

Its title "Stop lobbies trying to distort Nutri-Score and prevent it from being mandatory" shows that it is aimed at combatting opposition to the label, which was developed in France but is now the official, albeit voluntary, label in six EU member states - Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain - plus Switzerland.

The 36 professional organisations backing the petition are mainly French but, the European Childhood Obesity Group (ECOG) is one of two EU-wide associations alongside the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER), backing the petition.

However, Safe Food Advocacy Europe (SAFE), a consumer group that is actively campaigning against the Nutri-Score, lists ECOG as a member on its website. S&P Global Commodity Insights asked ECOG about this discrepancy and was told that it had not been a member for several years and has now asked SAFE to remove its name from the website.

Industry fights Nutri-Score

The petition comes as the European Commission prepares to publish proposals for a mandatory harmonised EU front-of-pack label, in the next few months - probably in January given the opposition to the label from the current EU Council Presidency Czechia.

While those supporting the Nutri-Score see it as the ideal label for the 27-nation bloc, there is opposition too from some members states, notably Italy and Czechia.

The food industry too is split between those like Nestle and Kellogg that have embraced the Nutri-Score and others like Mars and Mondelez that oppose the colour-coded label. Even within France traditional charcuterie and cheese makers, who see their products labelled with a 'D' or an 'E' signalling the least healthy foods to be eaten sparingly, are campaigning against the Nutri-Score.

In a 20 October tweet Serge Hercberg, the lead researcher behind the Nutri-Score's development, made clear his concerns about opponents lobbying the Commission as it decides on the future EU label. "And tomorrow, will the European Commission also give in to the agri-food lobbies (Ferrero, Lactalis, Mars, Mondelez, CocaCola, COPA-COGECA, cheeses, charcuteries...) that are pushing to prevent or at least delay the adoption of the #NutriScore nutritional logo?" Hergberg tweeted.

The petition

"The front-of-pack nutrition label Nutri-Score must be defended against lobbies that try to distort it and try to prevent it from becoming mandatory," the petition starts off, before going on to explain the history behind the colour-coded label.

It notes that the Nutri-Score "was officially adopted in France by an inter-ministerial decree on 31 October 2017 after a very tough battle against agri-food lobbies that lasted nearly 4 years."

The petition notes that it aims to help consumers to make healthier food choices at the point of purchase by delivering simple at-a-glance nutritional information allowing them to compare nutritional quality across food products easily.

"Although simple to interpret, it is based on numerous scientific studies that have demonstrated its effectiveness and its benefits for consumers and public health," the petition states.

It goes on to say that while no food company was in favour of Nutri-Score when it was first proposed in 2014, over 800 brands have now committed to displaying it on their food products.

"But since it is still on a voluntary basis, given a European regulation that prevents member states from making it mandatory to display [an interpretive] front-of-pack nutrition label on foods, many food companies are still opposing it and fighting it. This is the case for Coca-Cola, Ferrero, Mars, Lactalis, Mondelez, Kraft and many other national and international companies," the petition underlines.

It adds that the Commission's May 2020 announcement, as part of its Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy of a proposal for a single, harmonized mandatory front-of-pack nutrition label for all European countries before the end of 2022, "has awakened lobbying, both manufacturers opposed to Nutri-Score but also some agricultural sectors (cheeses, processed meats) with behind them, large industrial food groups (Lactalis, Savencia, etc.) who do not wish to provide consumers with real transparency on the nutritional composition of their products.

"Today, in France and throughout Europe, we are witnessing a new intense lobbying of economic actors, relayed by many politicians at the national and regional level (often for electoral reasons) who are doing everything to prevent the Nutri-Score being adopted in Europe as the single and mandatory model of nutritional label or trying to distort it to protect certain agricultural sectors (by proposing exemptions of certain products).

"We, citizens and scientists/experts, aware that our food consumption plays a major role for health, demand to be able to assess, through the display of the Nutri-Score, the nutritional quality of ALL foods, without exception, in order to guide our choices in a reasoned way, with full knowledge of the facts. We consider this to be a consumer right and a duty of economic operators."

The petition calls for three key actions, asking that

• the French Government does everything possible to thwart the action of lobbies which aim, at the national level, to torpedo Nutri-Score or to distort it;
• the European Parliament adopts the Nutri-Score as the mandatory front-of-pack label for Europe in 2023, taking into consideration its scientific background and its demonstrated interest in terms of public health; and,
• manufacturers who today refuse to display Nutri-Score, respond to consumer demand for a true nutritional transparency on composition of foods, and immediately display (even if it is not yet mandatory) the Nutri-Score on their products.

"The health of citizens has no price and public health must prevail over the defence of purely economic interests!" the petition ends.

-- Sara Lewis, Senior Analyst

This article was published by S&P Global Commodity Insights and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.