As of: February 6, 2024, 7:01 p.m
By: Sandra Sporer
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The calculation of the Nutri-Score has been revised.
Bad ingredients are assessed more critically.
The long transition period represents a problem.
Munich – In autumn 2020, the Nutri-Score was introduced as a voluntary label in Germany.
Since then, the food traffic light with its rating scale from A to E has been found on numerous foods.
It allows consumers to compare products of the same type at a glance and choose the healthier option.
However, there was always criticism: both about the calculation of the Nutri-Score and about the fact that the food traffic light is not used across product categories.
Consumer advocates particularly complained that some ingredients were not taken into account and that some bad ingredients did not result in enough points being deducted.
However, improvements have now been made.
The French health authority Santé publique, which is responsible for the Nutri-Score, has improved the calculation, as
Stiftung Warentest
reports.
For many foods this means a worse rating in the future.
However, there are also some newcomers.
New rules for Nutri-Score – salt, sugar and fat lead to poorer food traffic light ratings
In order to get a product's Nutri-Score, points are awarded and calculated for positive and negative properties.
The positive ingredients include fiber, protein and a high plant content.
However, sugar, fat or salt are negative.
The Nutri-Score of some foods is adjusted to better reflect current scientific findings.
© Markus Mainka/Zoonar/IMAGO
In the future, some substances will be treated in a more differentiated manner in order to take new scientific findings into account.
For example, sugar.
On the one hand, a high sugar content can now earn a product up to 15 negative points (previously 10).
On the other hand, manufacturers can no longer cheat the evaluation by using sweeteners.
There will also be negative points for this in the future.
Products with a high salt content, such as chips or pretzel sticks, are hit even harder.
Excessively salty foods will in future be penalized with up to 20 points, according to
Stiftung Warentest
.
And products that contain red meat can be rated a maximum of C in the future.
Because: this is classified as carcinogenic by the WHO.
Nuts, natural oils and fish are the winners of the new food traffic light rules
As a result of the adjustment, many products will have worse reviews in the future.
However, there are also some innovations that can help products get better ratings.
The topic of fats will be viewed in a more differentiated manner in the future.
This benefits, among other things, fish, which will receive a better rating in the future thanks to the healthy omega-3 fats it contains.
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Nuts and natural oils such as olive oil will also be classified differently in the future.
So far, they have always received very poor reviews due to their high fat content, even though they are quite healthy in moderation.
Jaana Kleinschmit von Lengefeld, President of the Association of the Oilseed Processing Industry in Germany (OVID), welcomes this step.
“Vegetable oils and fats are an elementary part of our healthy diet,” von Lengefeld told the
dpa
.
Consumer advice center criticizes the accommodating transition period for Nutri-Score
The new regulation in itself is positive for consumers.
However, there is a catch: Manufacturers have until the end of 2025 to adapt the food traffic lights on their packaging to the new calculation standard.
During this time, the previous label may continue to be used and products with the old and new label may also be sold in parallel.
This can quickly lead to confusion in the supermarket, especially since it is not clear to consumers whether a Nutri-Score was created using the new or old calculation standard.
The Hamburg consumer advice center is clearly criticizing this.
“In our view, this is an omission that can unnecessarily limit the credibility of the Nutri-Score,” says the consumer advice center’s website.
(
sp
)