Vandevijvere Stefanie
Sciensano, Service of lifestyle and chronic diseases, J Wytsmanstraat 14, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Arch Public Health. 2020 Oct 23;78:107. doi: 10.1186/s13690-020-00492-1. eCollection 2020.
Front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labeling has been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of a suite of measures needed to improve population diets. The voluntary Nutri-Score FOP labeling system, which was first implemented in France, was approved for implementation in Belgium by the Minister of Public Health in August 2018 and has been officially adopted in Belgium since April 1st 2019. We assessed the uptake of Nutri-Score by food retailers and manufacturers during the first year of implementation in Belgium.
In November-December 2019, pictures for 1781 products displaying Nutri-Score on the FOP were collected from the five biggest retailers, representing about 10% of products on the market in Belgium. About 90% of products displaying Nutri-Score on the FOP in 2019 were own-brand products from two major food retailers, while the few remainder were branded products. About 56% of products displayed Nutri-Score A or B while 26% of products displayed Nutri-Score D or E.
During the first year of implementation, > 1700 food products displayed Nutri-Score on the FOP in Belgium. While the majority of those products were healthier foods (Nutri-Score A&B), about one quarter of less healthy products (Nutri-Score D&E) already displayed Nutri-Score as well. In the meantime, all five biggest retailers, including discounters, have committed to display Nutri-Score on the FOP from 2020 onwards, which may increase pressure on other food manufacturers to improve uptake of Nutri-Score for branded products.
包装正面（FOP）营养标签已被世界卫生组织（WHO）推荐为改善人群饮食所需的一系列措施之一。自愿性的营养评分FOP标签系统最初在法国实施，2018年8月比利时公共卫生部长批准在比利时实施，自2019年4月1日起在比利时正式采用。我们评估了营养评分在比利时实施的第一年中食品零售商和制造商的采用情况。
2019年11月至12月，从五家最大的零售商处收集了1781种在FOP上显示营养评分的产品图片，这些产品约占比利时市场上产品的10%。2019年在FOP上显示营养评分的产品中，约90%是两家主要食品零售商的自有品牌产品，其余少数是品牌产品。约56%的产品显示营养评分A或B，而26%的产品显示营养评分D或E。
在实施的第一年，比利时有超过1700种食品在FOP上显示了营养评分。虽然这些产品中的大多数是更健康的食品（营养评分A&B），但约四分之一不太健康的产品（营养评分D&E）也已经显示了营养评分。与此同时，包括折扣店在内的所有五家最大的零售商都承诺从2020年起在FOP上显示营养评分，这可能会给其他食品制造商带来压力，促使他们提高品牌产品对营养评分的采用率。
