Abstract
ObjectiveTo understand the changes of the nutrition labeling of packaged food in China two years after the promulgation of the Regulation for Food Nutrition Labeling, which encourages food manufacturers to identify nutrition labeling.MethodsInvestigators copied out the nutrition information panel, nutrition claim and nutrient function claim of packaged food in a supermarket with prepared questionnaire and finished normative judgment in 2008 and 2010.Results4693 and 5526 kinds of packaged food were investigated separately. Nutrition information panel, nutrition claim and nutrient function claim were found on the food label of 27.6%, 13.0% and 1.9% of packaged food respectively in 2008, while 35.1%, 7.7% and 2.3% in 2010. The nutrition information panel which labeled energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate and sodium was 597(43.8%) and 1661(85.9%) in 2008 and 2010, only 134(9.8%) and 985(51.0%) nutrition information panel were totally normalized. Nutrition claim and nutrient function claim focused on vitamin, mineral and dietary fiber. The total qualified proportions for nutrition claim were increased significantly for most of the nutrients, except for cholesterol. There were 6 (6.4%) and 5 (3.9%) nutrient function claims with hinting of therapeutic effects on diseases separately.ConclusionAlthough the voluntary regulation remarkably improved the level of normalization for nutrition labeling, its role on the prevalence was minus. It's imperative to enforce nutrition labeling for not only China but also other countries, and furthermore, health education on nutrition labeling should be initiated to support the policy.
Highlights
In recent years, with the development of the economy and the quickening of life rhythm, consumers all over the world are increasingly demanding packaged foods, which offer convenience and easy accessibility
The final databases consisted of 4,693 and 5,526 food products, belonging to 815 and 941 food brands in 2008 and 2010, respectively. 480 food brands were same between 2008 and 2010, corresponding to 4,042 (86.1%) and 4,284 (76.9%) food products separately
There were 6 (6.4%) and 5 (3.9%) nutrient function claims with hinting of therapeutic effects on diseases separately
Summary
With the development of the economy and the quickening of life rhythm, consumers all over the world are increasingly demanding packaged foods, which offer convenience and easy accessibility. In response to consumers’ rapidly changing needs, food industries are developing an increasing variety of processed foods. Most consumers are either unaware of the increased health risks associated with some processed foods or lacking the skills to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy foods. Nutrition labels were suggested to be an important means of facilitating choice of and access to nutrient-dense foods by World Health Organization (WHO) in 2003 [3]. To help consumers make healthy food choices, governments should ensure accurate, standardized, and comprehensible information is provided on the content of food items [4]
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