Non-disclosure of Nutri-Score papers
- Traffic light labels
- Transparency and food safety
In January 2024, foodwatch asked the European Ombudsman to intervene after the EU Commission refused to release documents on food information regulations. Despite a ruling in foodwatch's favor, the documents remain undisclosed.
Withholding official documents is ‘maladministration’ by the European Commission
The European Commission (EC) has been dealt a major blow in the Nutri-Score papers case. According to the European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, the EU Commission should have granted foodwatch access to the documents it requested. In its decision of 7 October 2024, the Ombudsman ruled on the case, criticising the EC for not making public the documents legitimately requested by foodwatch. The Ombudsman had already asked the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to “disclose the document without delay” back in February. The Commission refuses.
For the European Ombudsman, refusing foodwatch access to the documents constitutes a case of ‘maladministration’. What is the Commission hiding? Why is Nutri-Score not yet mandatory in all Member States, when it is independent and recognised as being effective in preventing avoidable illnesses, which are on the rise in Europe?Head of the Europe Office at foodwatch
The Ombudsman is an independent body responsible for investigating complaints of maladministration by the European institutions, including where no response has been received, or where there are unjustified refusals or delays in disclosing public information, as in the case of the Nutri-Score papers.
Find out more about the Nutri-Score Papers
foodwatch appealed to the European Ombudsman in Brussels in January 2024, after the Commission refused to grant it access to certain documents, including the Regulatory Scrutiny Board’s opinion on the revised Regulation on food information to consumers (FIC). The Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB) is an independent body that advises European officials in the drafting of legal acts and gives its approval for proposals to progress through all stages to publication.
The aim of appealing to the Ombudsman was to understand why the revision to the FIC Regulation to incorporate a mandatory nutritional label in Europe, which was expected at the end of 2022, has been swept under the carpet. While any chance of making Nutri-Score mandatory has been shelved indefinitely, foodwatch is neither fooled nor convinced by the Commission’s silence on the case.
World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends the use of Nutri-Score across Europe to fight against non-communicable diseases.
What lies inside the documents withheld from foodwatch by the European Commission?
At the beginning of the process of requesting the documents from the European Commission in May 2023, foodwatch got hold of notes and meeting minutes revealing the extent of agri-food industry lobbying in Brussels seeking to put a spanner in the works of a mandatory Nutri-Score.
In a refusal letter sent to foodwatch during the information-request procedure, the Commission stated that disclosing these documents would “undermine the institutions’ decision-making process” and that there was “no major public interest to do so”. As a result, we called on the Ombudsman to look into the case and it seems that we have hit them where it hurts. What is inside the documents that the Commission does not want to disclose? foodwatch suspects that the reasons for the political block around a mandatory Nutri-Score may lie within.
The Commission owes its citizens transparency and a clear explanation on why it is still doing nothing. It claims to take the fight against cancer and heart disease seriously, but refuses to move forward with this simple tool which is proven to help consumers make healthier choices. It is time for the new Commission to act.Head of the Europe Office at foodwatch
Behind these document requests and the appeal to the European Ombudsman are 10 years of work by foodwatch to speak out against intensive anti-Nutri-Score lobbying by the agri-food industry. Given the European Commission’s inaction, manufacturers like Danone and Bjorg are now taking advantage by backpedalling on Nutri-Score labelling, opting to remove it from all or some of their products.
foodwatch has no plans to back down in the face of the lobbying pressure. The Commission has said that this is an ongoing file, so To shed lights on this, foodwatch has already issued two new access to access to document requests to DG Sante and DG Agri to see what meetings and exchanges have been taking place over the last two years.
Nutri-Score is a public health tool, recognised as a key and effective measure in the fight against avoidable illnesses. It needs to be put back on the table at European negotiations urgently and become mandatory across all EU Member States.