A group of scientists have made another plea for making the colour-coded nutrition label mandatory for the entire EU, while southern EU countries vehemently oppose it, saying it puts the traditional Mediterranean diet at a disadvantage.
On Tuesday (16 March), 269 European scientists together with 21 associations of health experts signed a petition asking the EU executive to adopt the French Nutri-Score as the EU-wide food labelling.
The signatories, led by Serge Hercberg, a professor of nutrition at the University of Paris 13, considered the father of Nutri-Score, recalled that the colour-coded label is the only nutritional scheme that has been supported by numerous scientific studies published in peer-reviewed international scientific journals.
An ad hoc label for food products belonging to the Mediterranean diet is the latest suggestion in the EU-wide food labelling fray, and is intended to cope with negative effects caused by the colour-coded Nutri-score labelling scheme.
The idea came from the Committee of the Regions (CoR), an EU institution with an advisory role, and popped up during its Euro-Mediterranean regional and local assembly (ARLEM) plenary.
In a report on addressing food security for people living in the Mediterranean region, the deputy mayor of the French city Nice, Agnès Rampal, proposed the development of a “Mediterranean products or Mediterranean diet label with a specific set of criteria and a broad communication plan.”
EU agricultural ministers have given the green light to an EU-wide animal welfare labelling system, although plans for front of pack nutrition and origin labelling have been shelved for the moment.
The approval of conclusions on an EU-wide animal welfare label, taken during the last Agrifish Council of the German presidency on Tuesday (15 December), paves the way for the European Commission to submit a proposal for a harmonised label on food produced under animal welfare standards higher than those in EU legislation.
Through the conclusions, ministers also agreed to gradually include all livestock species in the label over the entire course of their lifetime, including transport and slaughter, and ensure smooth interplay with existing labelling.