Front-of-pack labelling of food products: international practices and perspectives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31617/2.2022(44)06Keywords:
front-of-pack nutrition labeling, informing, marking, quality, consumerAbstract
Introduction. A prerequisite for the development of the food market is to provide consumers with accessible and necessary information about properties of food products. Food products labeling on the front of the package is aimed at facilitating consumers’ understanding of information about their usefulness.
Problem. A wide range of symbols, schemes and formats have been developed which would provide information about the properties of food products to the consumer in the most convenient and accessible form. However, it is important to analyze the existing options and the effectiveness of this method of informing consumers about the usefulness of food products.
The aim of the work is to analyze different approaches to food products labeling on the front of the package in terms of their informativeness and usefulness for consumers.
Methods. The methods of comparative analysis and synthesis, selection and generalization, legislative and regulatory documents were used.
Results. Many front-of-pack labeling systems are known today, including Multiple Traffic Lights, Reference Intakes, Health Star Rating system, Nutri-Score, etc. Each of these systems has its own peculiarities regarding the content and way of presenting information about the components of the product, in terms of their usefulness for the human body and the presence / absence of components that may have a negative impact on health.
However, the current labeling systems make it possible to compare food products without taking into account other aspects of health impact (degree of processing, added additives that make them unhealthy), which does not allow to provide a complete profile of the health benefits of the food product.
Conclusions. The analysis of different front-of-pack nutrition labels systems proved that thanks to such information, consumers have the opportunity to choose more healthy food products.
The adoption and implementation of a single label on the front of the package can be useful for consumers and reduce the number of cases associated with the negative impact of food products on health.
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