Common sense

Nutri-Score, yes or no? The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has not yet decided, the FNLI awaits the outcome of the government investigation before agreeing to a food choice logo, the Consumers' Association is in favour. HAK and Iglo choose their own path and have already attached the Nutri-Scores to their labels. I can see that, because these products are very successful: proteins, fibers and a lot of fruit and vegetables have a positive effect on the overall score. If a product contains a lot of fats, sugars and/or salt, it will be penalised.

There is a lot of scepticism about the score. "Is this a proper classification? How can french fries with mayonnaise be rated higher than smoked salmon? Isn't it odd that cola-light gets a green A label and milk doesn't?

With these arguments you can easily dispense the label. It's true: you can fill your shopping cart with only A-label products, and use them to create a rather unhealthy weekly menu. But I don't think that's how it's going to work. Consumers aren't crazy. I think they have enough common sense to make the right choice (if they want to). I think this food choice logo can help us with that.

We are mainly going to compare product groups within them. If you're standing in front of a shelf with 8 different tomato soups and you're not sure which one to take, then I expect that many people will choose the packaging with a C rather than an E. That's exactly what will trigger manufacturers to want to turn their D into a B. The Nutri-Score is a serious incentive for manufacturers to work on product improvement and to reduce salt, fat and/or sugar levels.

Pieter Vos