“Food labels may fool EU consumers” European Court of Auditors warns in special report

foodwatch asks EU commission to put consumer health over lobby interests and fill in the gaps in the legislation

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) report on food labelling released today underlines serious shortcomings in consumer rights in the EU. The auditors criticise the maze of food labels, misleading slogans, weaknesses in checks and penalties and the lack of harmonised standardised rules across EU countries. “EU legislation can lead to consumers being fooled“ writes the ECA. The European consumer rights organisation foodwatch, who had been interviewed for this report, welcomes it as a validation of the demands for transparent, honest and comprehensible consumer information it has voiced for years. foodwatch asks the European Commission to tackle the problem by finally delivering the promised updates to the Food Information to Consumers (FIC) regulation. Ideally this would mean proposing the Nutri-Score as a mandatory front-of-pack nutritional label (FOPNL) across Europe. If the Commission continues to be blocked on this, they should let member states go ahead and adopt the Nutri-Score on a mandatory basis at a national level, demands foodwatch.

“What’s worst about the ECA report: Rather than a lack of competence it underlines the lack of political will in the EU’s institutions to defend the rights of 450 million EU consumers, instead of the interests of a powerful industry. Food labels may often be small in size, but they are of huge importance: They shape eating habits of millions of people and therefore have a massive impact on the health of European consumers. There’s no time to lose: The Commission needs to either propose Nutri-Score as the harmonised and mandatory label across the EU or clear the way and enable member states to introduce a mandatory Nutri-Score on the national level”, said Suzy Sumner, Head of the Brussels Office for foodwatch International.

foodwatch asks the new EU Commission to finally deliver on the promised updates to the Food Information to Consumers (FIC) regulation. The FIC regulation was supposed to be published in 2022 but has disappeared off the agenda without any explanation. It would have suggested, among other things, a harmonised and mandatory front-of-pack nutritional label. A harmonised nutritional label across Europe would end the confusion around different schemes and help consumers make healthier decisions, explains foodwatch. The scientific research is clearly showing a label such as Nutri-Score to be the most favourable model to propose.

“Failing to deliver on a harmonised front-of-pack nutritional label in 2022 has been doubly damaging to citizen’s health. Not only is the crisis of obesity and other non-communicable diseases getting worse, but many member states decided to hold back and wait for an EU solution, rather than adopting a scheme to help inform their citizens”, said Suzy Sumner.

There are now a total of six EU countries (France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands) and Switzerland, that have adopted the Nutri-Score as a FOPNL on a voluntary basis.

Another important topic in the revision of the FIC regulation would be applying nutrient profiling criteria to restrict claims on foods, says foodwatch. This would put a stop to the widespread practice of adding health and nutrition claims like ‘high in fibre’ to junk food. In this field, the Commission is also lagging behind: According to the Claims Regulation, nutrient profiles should have been put in place by 2009. Today’s European Court of Auditor’s report calls on the Commission to address these gaps in the legislation.

• ECA Special report: Food labelling in the EU - Consumers can get lost in the maze of labels
• foodwatch position paper: Nutri-Score: Europe’s best chance for a consumer friendly front-of-pack nutritional label