The country’s simplified nutritional labeling system, called Nutri-Score, as a public health measure has been criticized by scientists, SIC Notícias reported on April 4.
The initiative on food labeling had the support of the outgoing Secretary of State for Health Promotion of Portugal, Margarida Fernández Tavares. According to her, the Nutri-Score “based on adequate scientific information.” In addition to her, Portuguese nutritionists advocated for labeling.
The simplified Nutri-Score label is used in many EU countries. It is already used by several economic operators in the Portuguese food sector.
The Nutri-Score icon is a small multi-colored scale with the letters A, B, C, D and E. It is placed on the packaging of the product so that the consumer can independently determine the degree of its health benefits. For example, a dark green color with the letter A indicates the maximum usefulness of the product, and a red color marked with an E warns of its low usefulness and even harmful to health.
However, scientists from the Ricardo Jorge INSA National Health Institute believe that the Nutri-Score label can be misleading about the real healthiness of food products.
“The vast majority (91%) of the foods evaluated do not meet the recommended values determined for sugar and salt content in the aggregate evaluation. “In particular, products labeled A or B, which in theory have higher nutritional quality and are perceived as healthier by consumers, can be up to 87% higher than the aforementioned reference values.” – says the study “Food products classified by Nutri-Score in the Portuguese market: monitoring of nutritional characteristics in 2021”, presented by the institute.
The Nutri-Score system is so biased that it ranks Coca Cola Zero as healthier than natural apple juice because it has a higher fructose content, critics say.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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