The European farmers' lobby has joined the Italian protests against the French Nutri-Score system advocated by France in the battle to choose an EU-wide food label.
Pekka Pesonen, secretary-general of COPA-COGECA, said his organization supports Italy's plea against all color-coded food labels, such as Nutri-Score, after an informal Agriculture Council meeting in Koblenz, Germany. The introduction of food labeling is one of the main objectives of the recently unveiled EU food policy, the Farm to Fork strategy (F2F).
The current German EU presidency is leading a debate among Agriculture ministers on this issue, aiming to adopt some suggestions by the end of the year. The European farmers' organization expects Italy to be able to block the French proposal because it grants a highest D-score to a certain type of Italian fig seed oil. In fact, this could also apply to more Southern European oils.
The European Commission has started outlining the new EU-wide food labeling system, but the debate over what kind of information should be provided to consumers has only just begun. So far, the main discussion at the EU level has been about which type of food label will be mandatory, with a battle between the Nutri-Score system, developed and supported by France, and the Italian counterproposal called Nutrinform battery.
The French Nutri-Score is already used in Belgium and Spain. Two weeks ago, the German government passed a law to implement the scheme for food marketed in the country. Nutri-Score converts the nutritional value of products into a code consisting of five letters, from A to E, each with its own color.
The Italian Nutrinform is based on a battery symbol that shows consumers the nutritional contribution relative to their daily needs, as well as the proper nutritional style. For a long time, the French Nutri-Score had an advantage over the Italian battery system, as it was the only labeling system tested in supermarkets for an extended period. However, at the end of July, the European Commission gave the green light for the voluntary use of Nutrinform in Italy.
In the European Parliament, socialist and green MEPs have called for the signing of the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) "Pro-nutriscore," launched by several consumer associations, which aims to make (the French) Nutri-Score mandatory for all food manufacturers at the EU level.