The European Dairy Association (EDA) welcomes the opportunity of the TRIS procedure on this Regulation notified by Luxembourg to the European Commission, which aims at preventing the appearance of technical barriers to trade.
EDA supports the consumer right to be fully informed on nutritional properties of foods which is one of the legal requirements of the Food Information to Consumer Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011.
However, EDA considers that the submitted Regulation under notification 2023/0548/LU is a technical barrier to trade, for three main reasons:
- The new algorithm, as applied to dairy products, does not reflect their intrinsic nutritional composition, and therefore does not comply with article 35 of regulation 1169/2011 (FIC).
- Regarding the dairy category, the suggested new algorithm does not meet the public health objectives and criteria foreseen by the European legislation, on which the scheme is based.
- Last but not least, the European Commission and Members States have not been sufficiently informed on the impact of the new algorithm.
EDA deeply regrets that Nutri-Score and its new algorithm is still not adapted to dairy products such as cheeses, milk and liquid dairy products.
Despite the changes, the system is still not useful to consumers in terms of information provided and is not aligned with dietary guidelines to reflect the nutritional quality of dairy products.
EDA calls for an immediate fix of the Nutri-Score algorithm to align its outputs with Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs). EDA also reminds our core principles for any Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) to be used in Europe, in line with the objectives and criteria of article 35 of the FIC regulation:
- Voluntary and harmonised system across the EU to guarantee the proper functioning of the single market and let food business operators decide whether they wish to use the logo on their products.
- The scheme must take into account the total nutritional content of the food, including beneficial nutrients to reflect the overall nutrient richness of foods and must be aligned with dietary recommendations, including specific considerations for basic food categories such as dairy, considering for instance the dairy calcium content and considering the frequency and quantity required to achieve a balanced diet.
- The system should be helpful for the consumers to improve the nutritional quality of their food basket, i.e., to allow consumers to identify best nutritional options within sub-categories of dairy products.
- The system should be based on sound scientific evidence
Regrettably, Nutri-Score does not comply with any of these principles for dairy products, including cheese, milk and other liquid dairy products – see our full position on the system in annex.
