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European food and drink industries recommend EU-wide nutrition labelling
3/06/2009 | Positions
CIAA – the voice of the European food and drink industries – will announce tomorrow to the European Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health a common Nutrition Labelling Scheme that is recommended for use by the food and drink industries across all 25 Member States of the EU.
"This labelling recommendation comes as a result of our commitments to the EU Platform to look at how to improve food labels in Europe," said Jean Martin, CIAA President. He added “it takes into account comments and suggestions from stakeholders such as consumer groups, to better communicate nutrient information to busy shoppers. Even though this is a voluntary recommendation we hope and expect a critical mass of companies to work rapidly towards adoption of the principles behind this system. Achieving healthier lifestyles will require more than food labelling changes, notably efforts by other stakeholders to promote increased physical activity and broadly-based consumer education. However, with this initiative CIAA is making a substantial contribution to helping people make better informed dietary choices.”
The CIAA recommendation, which includes front-of-pack and back-of-pack nutrition labelling, is based on a uniform list of nutrients, nutrition information per portion and the introduction of Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs). A key element of the system is the consistency of the nutrition information that will be provided to consumers across Europe, on the basis of a common framework that will enable them to easily understand the nutritional content of food and drink products.
The Nutrition Labelling Scheme is recommended by CIAA as a voluntary system that food and drink companies in the EU can work towards implementing on product labels over time, according to what is relevant and feasible for each. The scheme can be implemented progressively and it provides flexibility to achieve common EU-wide adaptations within product categories, taking account of sector specificities. Implementation of the scheme will be monitored.
Front-of-pack, the CIAA recommendation includes a clear statement of the Calories per portion, along with the percent GDA these Calories represent.
Back-of-pack labelling will include three elements:
The GDA recommendations used in the CIAA Nutrition Labelling Scheme are based on the nutritional needs of an average adult, as derived from international, EU and government guidelines. GDAs represent a science-based and non-discriminatory system for providing easy-to-use guidance to consumers.
The CIAA scheme has been developed in line with the requirements of current EU legislation (Directive 90/496/EC). In the context of the “Better Regulation” initiative of the European Commission CIAA reiterates its request to simplify the Directive as part of its upcoming revision.
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