The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture wants to introduce the Nutri-Score as an extended nutritional labelling system for Germany. The Federal Cabinet has now approved the corresponding regulation.
20 August 2020
Placing the Nutri-Score on the front of the packaging makes it possible to compare products in terms of their nutritional value at first glance. (Image: Rewe Group)
The Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Julia Klöckner, wants to introduce the Nutri-Score as an extended nutritional labelling system for Germany. The Federal Cabinet has now approved the corresponding regulation.
It is intended to enable the legally compliant use of the label for food products marketed in Germany. The aim is to make the healthy choice an easy choice, simplifying a healthier everyday diet, even with ready-made products - without patronising consumers, said the Minister. The required notification to the EU is still running in parallel. The standstill period will end in September. The Federal Council is then expected to deal with the ordinance in October. They is due to come into force in November of this year at the latest.
Information campaign to accompany the introduction of the Nutri-Score
At the same time, the Ministry is in the process of rapidly creating practical simplifications for the use of Nutri-Score by companies. The Ministry has published German translations of the French texts for the registration procedure and the conditions of use for Nutri-Score on its website as an aid. This takes into account the needs of small and medium-sized companies in particular. In addition the introduction of the label is accompanied by an information campaign for consumers and businesses be implemented. The aim of the measures is to utilise the Nutri-Score as widely as possible.
The aim is EU-wide labelling
The national introduction of extended nutritional labelling is not mandatory under current EU law. Accordingly, the Nutri-Score is not mandatory in France or Belgium, nor is the keyhole system in Scandinavia. During Germany's current EU Council Presidency, Federal Minister Julia Klöckner therefore wants to introduce the Drive forward the development of EU-wide standardised extended nutrition labelling.
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(Picture: BMEL/Photothek/Janine Schmitz)
„We are on the verge of successfully implementing one of the major nutrition policy projects. We have shown that the Nutri-Score provides consumers with easily understandable and comparable information. For consumers, it offers the best orientation on the supermarket shelf. It's not about doing without, but about the better alternative, about conscious choices without having to study nutritional tables at length. These remain on the back. But there will be a visually clear orientation aid on the front. If it contains too much fat, sugar or salt, the rating becomes less favourable. I clearly expect companies to use the labelling! We are creating the conditions for this.“ Julia Klöckner, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture
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The Nutri-Score makes it possible to determine the nutritional properties of a food at a glance and to compare different products within a product group in terms of their nutritional value. The placement on the front of the packaging enables this differentiation to be made at first glance. The five-level colour-letter combination of the Nutri-Score ranges from a green A to a red E and indicates the nutritional value of a food. Within a product group, a food with a green A rating is more likely to contribute to a healthy diet than a product with a red E rating. However, the Nutri-Score says nothing about whether a food is healthy or unhealthy, as only foods that are not harmful to health may be placed on the market[/infotext].
