Abstract
Nutrition and health claims (NHCs) are a powerful tool that influence consumers’ final decision on the choice of food products. The purposes of this repeated cross-sectional study were to (i) assess the prevalence of pre-packaged food products containing nutrition and health claims among different food categories, (ii) to determine the type of NHCs labelled on the examined food products, and (iii) to evaluate the trend in the use of NHCs in comparison to the 2012 survey. The survey was conducted immediately before the full enforcement of the new national legislation on NHCs in 2020. It comprised 3141 pre-packaged food products from 10 product categories. In total, 21.2% of food products contained any claim (19.4% contained any nutrition claim; 8.2% contained any health claim). In comparison to the 2012 survey, we observed a rising trend in the presence of NHCs; the use of nutrition claims on food products increased three times and the use of health claims increased 1.3 times in the 2020 survey. Bearing in mind that NHCs are a powerful tool guiding consumers’ food purchase decisions, NHCs should be supported by precise legislation and strict surveillance by the public health authorities.
Highlights
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) constitute a major public health challenge as they overburden the health system, pose threat to health progress worldwide, and potentially undermine social and economic development throughout the world [1]
We looked into the presence and the type of nutrition and health claims labelled on pre-packaged food products from 10 food categories, the same ones as in the 2012 survey
This study reveals that the use of nutrition and health claims is growing in Serbia
Summary
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) constitute a major public health challenge as they overburden the health system, pose threat to health progress worldwide, and potentially undermine social and economic development throughout the world [1]. An important way to improve health and to control obesity and NCDs is to focus on reducing the associated risk factors. Research shows that health risks related to high body-mass index and high fasting plasma glucose increase continuously. Those related to diet quality and caloric intake add up to the global burden of disease as well [2]. To improve health on a global scale, public health actions and policies are needed to stop or reverse this trend. Providing information about the risks and harms to health is not enough; concrete strategies are, in turn, needed to enable and facilitate healthier lifestyle choices for all [3]
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