BELGIUM – Danone, a French multinational food-products corporation, has announced the use of Nutri-Score labels on fresh dairy products in Blegium, as 46% of Belgian consumers have health as their top 1 or top 2 motivator for purchasing food and drinks.
According to the company, the Nutri-Score will allow them to identify more easily the foods that meet their expectations in terms of nutritional quality.
The Nutri-Score labelling scheme, which was developed by international researchers in nutrition, offers consumers legible information about the overall nutritional quality of products, which is clearly displayed on the front of pack.
Food products are classified in five categories, with a colour scale indicating the nutritional quality ranging from A (a better nutritional quality in green) to E (less good nutritional quality in red).
Studies have shown that this system is easily understood by consumers and that it has a greater impact on shifting consumer-buying behaviour towards healthy choices than other systems.
“This intuitive and scientific labelling scheme, based on a code with five colours and letters, will allow consumers to make a better and above all faster nutritional assessment of the products that correspond to their healthy lifestyle”, explained Wim Bauwens, Country Manager for Danone Belux.
“The system is already in use in France, and the Belgian government has indicated that it will be introduced on a voluntary basis in our country. Danone now chooses to fully endorse the Nutri-Score labelling scheme.
I strongly believe that the Nutri-Score scheme best meets the expectations of Belgian consumers, who are paying even more attention to what they eat and to their health.”
According to the WHO Europe, the introduction of this scheme, which has already been tried and tested by French consumers and performed better than other systems, marks an important achievement for nutrition in Europe.
The various products in Danone’s Belgian portfolio tap into different requirements and expectations, ranging from plain yoghurts to more indulgent products.
Around 70% of Danone’s yogurts, fermented milks and fresh cheese score A and B under the Nutri-Score scheme.
They are part of a healthy and balanced diet thanks to their nutritional composition and value.
The more indulgent products in our range have a C score average and, for few products, a D score.
Foods with a lower Nutri-Score can still be part of a balanced diet but should only be eaten occasionally.
