Institute for Hygiene and Medical Ecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Dr Subotića 8, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
Innovation Centre of Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Karnegijeva 4, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
Nutrients. 2021 Aug 18;13(8):2832. doi: 10.3390/nu13082832.
Nutrition and health claims (NHCs) are a powerful tool that influence consumers' final decision on the choice of food products. The purposes of this repeated cross-sectional study were to (i) assess the prevalence of pre-packaged food products containing nutrition and health claims among different food categories, (ii) to determine the type of NHCs labelled on the examined food products, and (iii) to evaluate the trend in the use of NHCs in comparison to the 2012 survey. The survey was conducted immediately before the full enforcement of the new national legislation on NHCs in 2020. It comprised 3141 pre-packaged food products from 10 product categories. In total, 21.2% of food products contained any claim (19.4% contained any nutrition claim; 8.2% contained any health claim). In comparison to the 2012 survey, we observed a rising trend in the presence of NHCs; the use of nutrition claims on food products increased three times and the use of health claims increased 1.3 times in the 2020 survey. Bearing in mind that NHCs are a powerful tool guiding consumers' food purchase decisions, NHCs should be supported by precise legislation and strict surveillance by the public health authorities.
营养和健康声称（NHCs）是影响消费者对食品选择最终决策的有力工具。本重复横断面研究的目的是：(i)评估不同食品类别中含有营养和健康声称的预包装食品产品的流行率，(ii)确定标签上的 NHC 类型，以及 (iii)评估与 2012 年调查相比，NHC 使用的趋势。该调查是在 2020 年新的国家 NHC 法规全面实施之前进行的。它包括来自 10 个产品类别的 3141 种预包装食品。总的来说，21.2%的食品含有任何声称（19.4%含有任何营养声称；8.2%含有任何健康声称）。与 2012 年的调查相比，我们观察到 NHC 存在的上升趋势；营养声称在食品中的使用增加了三倍，而健康声称的使用在 2020 年的调查中增加了 1.3 倍。鉴于 NHCs 是指导消费者食品购买决策的有力工具，NHCs 应该得到精确的立法和公共卫生当局的严格监督的支持。
