"In the episode of May 15, 2023, the Report broadcast provided a partial and non-shareable vision of food labeling systems. The Italian Government intends to guarantee the health of citizens and the protection of consumers when buying food. For this reason, it has developed a proposal for a packaging labelling system that aims to inform the consumer appropriately about the nutritional characteristics of the product, in relation to the health needs of each one, based on scientific data". This can be read in a note from Palazzo Chigi.
"The system that the Italian Government intends to promote, in line with the previous Governments of our Nation - continues the note of Palazzo Chigi - is proposed as an alternative to systems, such as the Nutriscore developed in some foreign countries, which aim to guide consumer choices through traffic lights, color gradations and scores. These systems, in fact, are based on algorithms that are not sufficiently transparent, easily influenced by economic interests and in any case based on limited and often inappropriate evaluation parameters. Furthermore, there is no concrete scientific evidence of the suitability of these systems to educate consumers' eating habits with beneficial effects on their health. The Government believes, on the basis of sound scientific data, that no product, if taken in the right quantities, deserves the red light and that all products that are abused can cause negative consequences on health. The complexity of the assessments to be carried out for a healthy and balanced diet cannot be reduced to a colored sticker: as noted by the National Competition and Market Authority, the application of the vignette "in the absence of information related to it" would result in a misleading commercial practice. For this reason, the Government believes that the well-being and nutritional health of the population should not be pursued by manipulating and directing consumption choices, but by making available to people the information necessary to eat in an informed and correct way. Protect health and awareness, not direct consumption. For more information, see the position paper of 25 August 2022 published on the website of the CNBBSV - National Committee for Biosafety, Biotechnology and Life Sciences".