(Brussels, 2 February 2012) FoodDrinkEurope members today expressed their dismay at the outcome of the vote in plenary of the European Parliament on the nutrition claims list endorsed by Member States for use throughout the EU Market.

The Commission’s proposal would have introduced two new nutrition claims for food operators to communicate about a specific nutrition benefit or important recipe change to the consumer, namely, the “No added salt(/sodium)” claim and the “now contains X% less” claim.  

Speaking following the vote, the President of FoodDrinkEurope, Jesús Serafín Pérez, commented:

“Today’s vote in the European Parliament sends a strong signal to consumers and industry on two counts.  Firstly, it means that consumers will not be informed of important reformulations to foods so that they can make an informed food choice thus driving positive changes in dietary habits.  Secondly, it serves a ‘bitter pill’ to food operators who have strived to voluntarily reformulate their products in line with consumer taste and public health expectations over the years.  It is difficult to comprehend the incoherence between the position of the Member States, who have agreed on the merits of informing consumers about these claims and which were taken up within the EU High Level Group on Nutrition and under the EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, and the views of Members of the European Parliament, who have failed to understand that reasoning.”   

FoodDrinkEurope believes that the introduction of a ‘Now contains X% less’ claim would offer new possibilities to food manufacturers to communicate incremental nutrition changes made to foods to the consumer by comparing old and new recipes.  Moreover, it is important not to forget about the technological constraints to rolling out the smaller, step-wise reformulations to recipes, in addition to the time and cost involved in doing so, together with the need to gradually familiarise consumers with the new ‘improved’ taste of the food. 

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