Consumer's and professional's perspectives towards a new food labeling in Israel

Consumer’s and professional’s perspectives towards a new food labeling in Israel and lessons from other OECD countries Dr. Vered Kaufman-Shriqui RD, MSc, PhD Department of Nutrition Sciences Ariel University, Israel

Unhealthy food intake • Unhealthy food intake has been shown to contribute to more than 20% of death cases globally.

Diabetes

CVD Cancer

Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.

Lancet 2019, 393(10184):1958-1972.

EU23 countries : Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom

For 1 USD invested in prevention of obesity, up to 5.6 USD will be returned in economic benefits

Front-of-pack labeling (FOPL) • Front-of-pack labeling (FOPL) is a policy tool for countries to improve the food environments in which food choices are made • WHO recommends that governments implement FOPL nutrition labels • FOPL may influence consumers to reduce the intake of fast food, ultra-processed food, and other calorie-dense foods 1.

Hawley KL, Roberto CA, Bragg MA et al. (2013) The science on front-of-package food labels. Public Health Nutr 16, 430-439.

2.

Cecchini M & Warin L (2016) Impact of food labelling systems on food choices and eating behaviours: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized studies. Obes Rev 17, 201-210.

3.

Croker H, Packer J, Russell SJ et al. (2020) Front of pack nutritional labelling schemes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of recent evidence relating to objectively measured consumption and purchasing. J Hum Nutr Diet 33, 518-537.

Food labels: influence at the point of purchase Informative vs. Judgmental

USA & Canada

OLD

https://www.fda.gov/food/nutrition-education-resourcesmaterials/new-nutrition-facts-label

Different Nutrition labels

UK

French and seven other European countries. The use of the Nutri-Score label is still voluntary. Two years after its launch, 250 brands are engaged in France – representing 25% of the French market.

Nutri-Score-EU?

https://nutriscore.colruytgroup.com/colruytgroup/en/about-nutri-score/

Chile

Israel

A survey among Dietitians (n=165) •

Do you believe that a marked foods?

red label will significantly reduce purchases of the Dietitians 18.3

81.7

% Yes

% No

Food purchasing habits and perspectives of dietitians on how would purchasing be influenced after labeling* 100

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Savory snacks

Sweets snacks Currently Purchased

Sweet breakfast cereals

Processed meat products

Sweet soft drinks

Sweet dairy products

Labelling will reduce consumption (dietitians)

* Data on purchasing habits are a result of a national representative sample conducted by the Israeli MOH and Mayers-Brookdale institute n=920 Data on dietitian perspectives were analyzed and collected from a convenience sample of dietitians by Ariel department of Nutrition n=239

Professional’s attitudes towards the new labeling (n=239) Question/Response

Dietitians

Others

p-value

On which category of food will a red label have the most significant impact?

Cereals (%)

30.5

29.3

Dairy products (%)

11.6

9.3

Snacks and sweets (%)

28.7

34.7

Processed meat products (%)

6.1

16.0

Soft drinks and sweetened beverages (%)

23.2

10.7

81.7

70.7

Do you believe that a red label will significantly reduce purchases of the marked foods? (% responding yes)

0.03

0.06

Attitudes towards buying red labelled food

Declared they would purchase less food items with red labels

Data on purchasing habits are a result of a national representative sample conducted by the Israeli MOH and Mayers-Brookdale institute n=920

Israel- What has already happened • The new Israeli food labeling has been launched in January 2020 • Manufacturers reformulated food items to avoid red labels

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30573335/

A few more questions • Is food reformulation necessarily healthier?

• How do food labeling influence children?

• Should babies food regulated differently than adult food?

• How does food intake change by socioeconomic status and ethnicity?

Thank You