Nutrient Profiling Is Needed to Improve the Nutritional Quality of the Foods Labelled with Health-Related Claims

Abstract

Health-related claims on food products influence consumers and their food preferences. None of the European countries have restricted the use of health claims to foods of high nutritional quality despite the regulatory background provided by the European Union in 2006. We evaluated the nutritional quality of foods labelled with claims available in the Slovenian market using two nutrient profile models—Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and European World Health Organization Regional office for Europe model (WHOE)—and compared the results to the nutritional quality of all available foods. Data for prepacked foods in the Slovenian food supply were collected in 2015 on a representative sample (n = 6619) and supplemented with 12-month product sales data for more accurate assessments of the food supply. A considerable proportion of foods labelled with any type of health-related claim was found to have poor nutritional quality. About 68% of the foods labelled with health-related claims passed FSANZ criterion (75% when considering sales data) and 33% passed the WHOE model (56% when considering sales data). Our results highlight the need for stricter regulations for the use of health-related claims and to build upon available nutrient profiling knowledge to improve nutrition quality of foods labeled with health-related claims.

Nutritional Quality of Beverages Available in Vending Machines in Health and Social Care Institutions: Do We Really Want Such Offers?

“…In this study we found that 56% of all beverage front-face items available from vending machines is of lower nutritional quality. This proportion is slightly higher when compared to the beverages available in the Slovenian food supply, where 50% as was shown in a previous study (22). A recent international comparison (23) showed considerable potential for improving nutritional quality for beverages.…”

“…They use the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) Nutrient Pro ling Scoring Criterion model (21) to determine the eligibility of foods and beverages to carry health claims, meaning that only foods with better nutritional quality are allowed to carry health claims. A recent study in Slovenia (22) also evaluated the nutritional quality in food supplies based on the FSANZ model and found that 50% of available beverages in food stores are of lower nutritional quality. The aim of our study was to analyse the variety and nutritional quality of beverages available in vending machines placed in social and health care institution in Slovenia.…”

“…To compare the nutritional quality of the displayed items sin vending machines to the displays in stores with the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) (21), the Nutrient Pro ling Scoring Criterion FSANZ model was used. A similar approach was used in a recent assessment of the nutritional quality of foods available in Slovenian food supplies(22).…”

Facilitating Consumers Choice of Healthier Foods: A Comparison of Different Front-of-Package Labelling Schemes Using Slovenian Food Supply Database

“…The Slovenian branded foods dataset (CLAS, Composition and Labelling Information System) [31] was used for this analyses. In brief, the CLAS cross-sectional data on the composition of prepacked foods in the Slovenian food supply were collected during January-February 2015 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.…”

“…We did not calculate percentage for overall categories or for parent categories, since the study was conducted only on selected food categories, and therefore our sample of foods is not representative of the overall market of branded foods. Sales weighted proportion of healthier products was also calculated based on each product's 12 month sales data, which were provided by retailers, as described previously [31].…”