Lunge of the Minister of Agricultural Policies,
Stefano Patuanelli
in a hearing at the Agriculture Commission of the Chamber, on the programmatic lines of his department.
"The battery system was created to counter the
Nutriscore
traffic light
system
(an indicator of the level of sugars, fats and salt of a product, calculated on a reference basis of 100 grams) is inconceivable, unjustified and unacceptable. I want to be clear: it is a battle that Italy must do as a country system. The goal is to give truthful information to citizens. The Nutriscore system is a real danger that could compromise the Italian agri-food system ".
"From Monday - added Patuanelli - at the next European Council, I will reaffirm the Italian position. We must work with other European partners to give as much consensus as possible. The harsh reality is that Italian exports cover markets that are coveted by others and want to use the Nutriscore system to take away that part of our country's great capacity to export products with high added value in favor of those who do not have access to those markets. And in order to hit them - he concluded - we are ready to hit the Mediterranean diet, recognized Intangible heritage of humanity by Unesco ".
"As Italy - stated the undersecretary for agricultural policies, Francesco Battistoni in recent days - we propose the battery system, which evaluates not the individual foods, but rather their incidence in the diet, because we believe it is right to highlight the percentage of some nutrients compared to the recommended daily amount. But the Nutriscore no, it would be misleading ".
THE ITALIAN POSITION
- On January 21, 2021, Mise, the Ministry of Economic Development, published the user manual of the NutrInform battery.
The document that provides the guidelines for companies on the labeling system proposed by Italy.
The NutrInform Battery officially entered into force in Italy in December 2020 and is under discussion at European level as an alternative proposal to the Nutriscore, a system that marks foods as healthy or unhealthy through a color and to which Italy is strongly opposed. because it is unscientific and in contrast with the basics of the Mediterranean diet.
THE POSITION OF THE CREATOR OF THE NUTRISCORE
- "The Nutriscore is not absolutely against the Mediterranean diet, on the contrary it is totally in agreement with it", continues Hercberg showing examples of the classification of some foods.
To say that the label threatens oil and traditional Italian products "are myths spread by the lobbies", observes the French academic Serge Hercberg, considered the 'father' of French color labeling.
"Olive oil is classified C" (yellow color), "the best score for added fats and vegetable oils - he continues - totally consistent with the Mediterranean diet!".
It is the Nutrinform (Italian battery system) that is "without scientific basis" and "supported by the Italian lobbies (Coldiretti, Federalimentare)", while "the Nutriscore has a scientific background and is at the service of consumers".
THE SITUATION IN EUROPE, FROM THE 'TRAFFIC LIGHT' SYSTEM TO THE 'BATTERY' SYSTEM
- According to EU regulations, nutritional labeling schemes such as traffic lights can only be adopted voluntarily.
A situation that has led to a veritable jungle of interventions in Europe.
-
United Kingdom
.
It has a three-color system to display the fat, salt and sugar content per 100 gram or milliliter serving.
It is voluntary on paper, but in practice it is adopted by 98% of the large-scale distribution across the Channel.
-
France
.
Paris is about to adopt the NutriScore, a five-color scale ranging from green to red according to parameters such as calorie intake, sugar content, saturated fat and salt, per 100 grams.
The label was chosen from four different types, after an experimentation that began in September 2016 and lasted 10 weeks in 60 points of sale in four French regions.
According to the Paris government, NutriScore, which also reports the presence of "good" health components such as fruit or legumes, has proved to be more effective in providing balanced information to consumers.
-
Belgium
.
Sources in the Belgian federal government have expressed interest in the French approach.
In the European single market there are nutrition labeling systems that do not give "red cards", but are based on a positive classification, such as the "keyhole" label in force in the Scandinavian countries -
Sweden, Norway and Denmark
. The keyhole has only green, to indicate healthy products, recognized on the basis of specific requirements. Six agri-food multinationals have
announced that they have commissioned a team of experts to study a "harmonized at EU level" label that intends to use colors for fats, salts and sugars, but not on the basis of equal quantities for all foods, as for the "reference portions", developed by the EU food industry for each specific product.