Nutr-HIA Improving nutrition labelling in Portugal health impact assessment : final report

Abstract

Executive Summary | Background: Scientific evidence shows that mandatory nutrition declaration can be difficult to understand by consumers. According to a previous study conducted in the Portuguese population, 40% of Portuguese consumers did not understand the nutrition information presented on food labels. To face this misunderstanding, several countries have implemented consumer-friendly front-of-pack nutrition labelling based on the scientific evidence available for their national contexts. The use of interpretative front-of-pack nutrition labels (FOP-NL) is considered one of the best options to promote healthy food choices and consequently to prevent and control non-communicable diseases. In Portugal, a Government-endorsed policy on interpretative nutrition labelling is not yet implemented. However, several national economic operators from the food sector are already using different FOP-NL. The coexistence of multiple nutrition labelling systems in food products in Portugal in an unregulated way can be not favorable for the consumer understanding and, the FOP-NL systems used by the different food industry operators can not be the most adapted for the Portuguese consumers. Thus, there is a need to evaluate the impact of different FOP-NL in terms of their contribution to promote better informed food choices and promote healthy food habits. The final goal is to provide scientific evidence that could support a set of evidence-based recommendations that can be used by policymakers’ decision concerning the implementation of a proper approach on nutrition labelling.