The new version of the Nutri-Score nutritional display, criticized last week by the Minister of Agriculture, will be able to come into force with the signing by the ministries concerned of the decree which organizes its establishment, the government said on Friday, March 14. “Given the imperative public health issues, the ministers have decided to sign the decree modifying the rules for calculating Nutri-Score”, can be read in a statement from the ministers responsible for the Economy, Health, Agriculture and Commerce.
Above all, it is a question of “fighting overweight, obesity” which generates “subjects as heavy as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers,” said Minister of Health Catherine Vautrin on TF1 on Friday morning.
However, ministers warn in their press release that they will remain “vigilant with on-board effects” that this new calculation method “generates for products from French know-how”. The companies and brands engaged in this voluntary approach have “two years to update their packaging and affix the new Nutri-Score”, according to their press release.
Louder
The ministers Catherine Vautrin (Labor, Health, Solidarity), Yannick Neuder (Health, Access to Care), Eric Lombard (Economy), Véronique Louwagie (Commerce) and Annie Genevard (Agriculture) have affixed their signature on the document.
The latter had assumed publicly last week to block the publication of the decree which was to allow the entry into force of the new Nutri-Score, accusing it of giving a bad note to the “remarkable” products of the terroir, cheeses and cold meats in particular. The ministers in charge of health had indicated they have signed it.
This new version is more severe with regard to certain products processed by the food industry to take into account recent scientific work. In particular, it makes it possible to “improve the differentiation between food according to their salt and sugars”, the government’s press release said. “The ministries concerned will be asked to study” these “potential” dash “effects and” to initiate exchanges at the European level to see how to better take them into account “.
Designed by nutrition specialists, Nutri-Score was set up in 2017 in France, on the basis of volunteer, and in six other European countries. This labeling classifies the food products from A to E according to their composition and their nutritional intake. Nutritional labeling, the prohibition of advertisements for salty sweet fatty products and the taxation of sugary drinks are “the most effective public policies against overweight and obesity”, according to a study of the statistical service of social ministries in July 2024.