Health-Promoting Food Labelling – Benefits and Drawbacks

Abstract

Abstract This work systematizes the knowledge on several food labelling systems, namely the Nutri-Score, the NutrInform, and the Mediterranean Index (Med Index). The Nutri-Score system assesses nutritional value of a product per 100 g or 100 ml with no consideration of usually consumed serving as well as vitamins, minerals, and bioactive compounds. The concept of NutrInform does not label food products as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Instead, it indicates energy content in a serving (50 or 100 g) and contents of individual nutrients in a serving along with the percentage of their reference values of recommended daily intake. Thus, the NutrInform label placed on a product by a manufacturer participating in the system presents information in the following order: energy content in calories, contents of fatty acids, saturated fatty acids, sugars, and salt (everything expressed in grams). The Med Index covers three pillars of sustainability, taking into account nutritional, environmental, and social aspects. This labelling system assesses 27 criteria (9 for each pillar), the presence or absence of which is immediately visible to the consumer by a different colour of a label on the front of the pack (where blue reflects to the best score). A single graphic symbol allows consumers to simultaneously analyse various properties of the product and/or its production process in a few seconds. It forms a useful tool for comparing food products belonging to the same category and a useful system for ending the information asymmetry that characterizes the market of many food products. In our opinion, the concept of the Med Index would be the most useful considering health-promoting labelling of food products in Poland.