SURVEY – The food industry has multiplied the angles of attack in its fight against the 5-color code. Between letters to parliamentarians and ministers, its infiltration of scientific committees, the strategy has paid off.
The negotiations around the nutritional color code are far from over. The law is passed, but the implementing decree has yet to define the precise framework. No schedule is announced at the moment. The ministry agreed to carry out tests before that in real purchasing conditions. A victory for the food industry, opposed to the 5-color logo which it believes stigmatizes certain products. It must be said that the National Association of Agro-Food Industries (ANIA) and the Federation of Commerce and Distribution (FCD) have not skimped on the means of pressure. Return on a fight which is similar to that of David against Goliath.
Two opposing ministries
On July 8, 2015, the Ministries of Agriculture and Health clash head-on. In a letter addressed to Marisol Touraine, Stéphane Le Foll clearly renounces the 5-color code, under cover of an alert on the discussions in progress. It includes “the language elements” of the distributors, underlines Karl Laske. This journalist from Mediapart co-signs The Milk Cartels (Editions Don Quixote), in which the industry strategy is updated. “The so-called ‘5-C’ or ‘Hercberg’ system from the name of its main promoter, which seems to have the favor of your services, does not seem to me likely to meet these conditions and seems to me to be a lead that it is appropriate to deviate today, even if it could have been useful for the debate ”, writes the minister. Uplifting.
This position is not due to chance. It is the product of an intensive campaign of undermining on the part of the agro-food industry, of which the ANIA is the driving force. At her side, the powerful FCD and the National Food Council, where she sits. “We see two enemy brothers coming closer through the ANIA and the FCD, which have stormy ties. They are also very cautious in their exchanges and hesitate to make public their agreement against the 5-color labeling, ”says Karl Laske. The first meetings were held under cover of top secrecy from December 2014. Unofficial lobbying took place.
Little by little, the pieces of the puzzle come together and bear witness to a common strategy against the 5-C project. The mechanics are classic: put forward counter-proposals to the solution of Pr Serge Hercberg which worries. And if possible, drown the fish.
A costly precedent in 2010
In 2010, the European Parliament passed legislation on food labeling. MEPs debated the use of traffic lights. But the law was the subject of a massive campaign by the European food industry. One billion euros would have been spent by the Confederation of Agro-Food Industries of the European Union (CIAA), at the origin of the daily nutritional benchmarks (RNJ).
A report from the Corporate Europe Observatory reported a mountain of emails addressed to the shadow rapporteur, MP Kartika Liotard. She received up to 150 emails per day; on average, for every email from civil society, she received 100 from lobbyists. To support its approach, the CIAA commissioned two studies from the European Food Information Council (EUFIC)… funded by large groups such as Danone, Ferrero, PepsiCo or Unilever.
The text voted on was not very ambitious: manufacturers are forced to indicate the share of calories, fats, saturated fats, carbohydrates, sugars, salt. The traffic lights have disappeared.
Olivier Andrault, food officer (UFC-Que Choisir): ” The European context is not favorable at all. It prohibits mandatory nutritional labeling. “
Ready-made amendments
With these friendly support, the president of ANIA Jean-Philippe Girard splits a letter to Marisol Touraine in September 2015. He does not forget to mention a “constructive dynamic” which benefits from the support from Stéphane Le Foll.
The game does not end there. The text is under debate in the National Assembly, as part of the vote on the health bill. ANIA then proposes amendments to the Assembly’s letterhead, ready to be completed, to friendly parliamentarians. “What interested us is the mobilization of elected officials: we have published a certain number of documents in which we see an operating procedure. The ANIA wrote draft amendments which were reproduced by the deputies ”, specifies Karl Laske.
The calendar in hand
Lobbying works since the final text no longer mentions a 5-color code. As part of the implementing decree, the Minister of Health gives in on several points. It accepts the review by ANSES of the SENS system, offered as an alternative by supermarkets and manufacturers. “This risks delaying the application of the system which will be adopted by several months”, a source familiar with the matter tells us. And for good reason: in addition to being very expensive, these tests involve a very heavy deployment in the field. It will be necessary to define the number of stores concerned, the affected areas, manage the rotation of products purchased, etc.
For Karl Laske, “it is explicitly a question of drowning the 5-C proposition under pressure from other systems, of shifting the debate even if the alternatives are not developed. Because only the FSA system, proposed by Prof. Hercberg, has been tested under fictitious conditions. “If you have great reservations about the 5-C system, the ANIA does not support a particular system, retorts Cécile Rauzy, director of food and health at the ANIA. We want an experiment in real purchasing conditions to be implemented to determine the most relevant system for consumers. ”
With these concessions, the minister gives up his hand on the file. It is now the agro-food industry that is essential. At the head of the steering committee, which coordinates the evaluation under real purchasing conditions, two men: the Director General of Health, Benoît Vallet, and Christian Babusiaux in his capacity as Honorary Chamber President of the Court of Auditors. But since April 2015, the man has also been Chairman of the Board of Directors of the French Food and Health Fund (FFAS) … 100% funded by the food industry!
Pussyfoot
ANIA may also have infiltrated the scientific committee, responsible for developing the evaluation protocol under real purchasing conditions. This is the second authority responsible for setting up these tests, alongside the steering committee. Among the 14 experts, six declared links of interest with agro-food groups (Danone, Nestlé, Casino, Lactalis, etc.). But above all, it is the French Fund for Food and Health which will finance and set up the in-store trials.
After the showdown, the time seems to be easing tensions. On the side of consumer associations, we are trying to spare the goat and cabbage. Because the goal is to succeed in applying this famous color code.
Olivier Andrault, food officer (UFC-Que Choisir): ” We returned to the initial spirit of convergence of models to retain the best of models. “
The schedule, if it is respected, becomes more precise. After ANSES’s first evaluation of the SENS system, the comparison with code 5-C should be carried out at the end of June. At the start of 2017, consumers are hoping for consensus.
“The public health argument does not make the weight”
Pierre Méneton is a researcher at Inserm. In 1998, he tackled excess salt in France, thus drawing the wrath of salt producers and the food industry. Whistleblower in spite of himself, the man continued his fight, which in 2006 resulted in a libel suit.
What is the real weight of the food industry?
Pierre Méneton: The arguments put forward are always the same: it is the country’s leading economic activity, with 500,000 jobs, and it represents a significant share of exports. In the current difficult context, the public health argument does not make the weight. Governments systematically align themselves in favor of economic interests. It is a structural problem linked to the environment in which we are. There is almost no chance of seeing the 5 color code applied.
Is the Ministry of Health deluding yourself?
Pierre Méneton: The position of the Ministry of Health is a total facade. He knows full well that if an arbitration were to take place, it would be in favor of the Ministry of Agriculture, which defends the interests of the agro-food industry. The Ministry of Health tries to exist in a very difficult context, but it is impossible to go against strong economic stakes. It is only a question of managing crises and risks, not health but legal and media.
Read the rest of our survey:
– Food: birth in pain with the 5-color code
– Nutritional logos: how our neighbors are doing
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