Piloting a branded food database for reformulation monitoring in Ireland

Abstract

Abstract Branded food databases (BFDs) are used to monitor changes in nutrition composition as a result of reformulation and innovation of pre-packed foods. There is no established BFD with market wide coverage of pre-packed foods within and across food categories in Ireland. To address this gap, we aimed to pilot a BFD for reformulation monitoring in Ireland. In 2020, a review of existing BFDs was complete and the Nutrition Composition and Labelling Information System (CLAS) developed by the Nutrition Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia was identified and a partnership established. The CLAS tool and data collection methodology were translated, tested and adopted for use. CLAS-IRE was deployed to collect nutrition composition of seven food categories in December 2021-February 2022. The mean (SD) nutrition composition per food category (100g) was calculated using IBM SPSS V27 and sugar is presented here as an example. The review identified BFDs using different methods to collect nutrition composition of foods e.g. in-store, web-scraping and crowd-sourcing. A tool for instore collection was selected as 40% (n = 2) of Irish grocery retailers had online stores in 2020. CLAS-IRE was used to collect n = 2256 food products (biscuits n = 181, breakfast cereal n = 188, yogurt n = 297, carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages n = 132, confectionary n = 980, cakes n = 180 and savoury snacks n = 298). The average sugar content per food category was: biscuits 31.7g (9.4), breakfast cereals 15.8g (8.9), yogurt 9g (4), carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages 6.8 (3.6), confectionary 51.58g (10.7), cakes 33.5g (13.8) and savoury snacks 4.9g (9.3). Taking a partnership approach to piloting a branded food database for reformulation monitoring in Ireland allowed for a fast and cost-effective solution. This approach will enable cross country comparative analysis of nutrition composition of food products sold in both countries. The CLAS - IRE tool is established and available for nutrition research in Ireland. Key messages • Pre-packed foods are widely available in Ireland. The CLAS – IRE tool is established and available for nutrition research on pre-packed foods. • A branded food database can support the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of nutrition related policies and strategies in Ireland, including food reformulation.