Nutrition labeling: a petition denounces conflicts of interest

The controversy around nutritional labeling is not abating. MEP Michèle Rivasi gave the Minister of Health a petition signed by 235,000 people asking for the study to be abandoned under real purchasing conditions. This is, in fact, considered “illegitimate” by the signatories, because of the multiple conflicts of interest between the steering committee and the agro-food industry.

This petition launched by Eric Delannoy on Change.org calls for the introduction of the 5-color code on food packaging, also called Nutri-score, which is in the form of letters and colors ranging from green to red depending on the quality of the food. “For us consumers, there is no doubt that the 5-color system is the best,” he writes.

To support his statements, Mr Delannoy cites the opinion of the High Council for Public Health in favor of this nutritional labeling. He also refers to studies published in 2015 and concluding that this code dominates other systems, and showing that consumers are opting for a healthier diet thanks to it. “The 5C / Nutriscore is scientifically validated, precise, neutral, transparent, instantly intelligible, as we wish,” he said.

Conflicts of interest

However, manufacturers would prefer the Sens color code, developed with Carrefour, giving consumers a frequency of consumption that should not be exceeded (“often”, “regularly in small quantities”), or the nutri-marker code making it possible to visualize the contributions. nutritional percentage. After tough negotiations, the Ministry of Health launched at the end of September in 60 supermarkets in France an experiment aimed at deciding between the 4 different codes is unnecessary. At the end of the 10-week test, the ministry will decide which labeling should be affixed to the packaging.

But Michèle Rivasi, and the 235,000 signatories, do not look favorably on this experiment. “This comparative study is illegitimate since independent studies have already been carried out and have shown the superiority of the five-color logo. […]. This new study is therefore only a vast hoax organized by the agri-food industry with the complicity of the Ministry of Health and it must be abandoned ”, declared the MEP Europe Ecology-The Greens.

And they are not the only ones to doubt the scientific impartiality of this study. The French Society of Public Health said it was “deeply worried about threats to the independence of research and is firmly against any attempt to interfere by any carrier of interest whatsoever.” In fact, pressure from industry has already been denounced during the development of the various systems. The climate was such that 3 members of the scientific committee left the adventure, and the CEO of Inserm, Yves Lévy, shortly after followed his colleagues.