Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
09/22/2016
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
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Between June and July 2016, IDEC did research on the Internet on nutrition labeling of foods. The survey included the participation of 2,651 consumers and identified their difficulties to understand the information on the labels as well as their views on the possibilities to improve them.
Research shows that for 93.3% of respondents have a brief information on the front of the pack would help understanding. The adoption of an additional front label is one of the changes advocated by Idec so that consumers identify the composition of unhealthy products more easily and quickly.
In the survey, two models of front labels were presented used in other countries: Ecuador, which uses the colors of traffic lights (green, yellow and red) associated with the terms "low", "medium" or "high" to indicate the content critical nutrients such as sodium, sugar and fat; and Chile, which features black labels that warn if the product has excessive amounts of these nutrients (indicates "high in sugars", for example. "The model adopted in Ecuador was preferred by 71.2% of consumers surveyed .
Other countries such as the UK and Australia, has also follow the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and have some type of nutrition information on the front of the pack.
"Several countries are moving in this direction and we argue that Brazil should also adopt a front label that highlights the health risks. Now we need to discuss a suitable model for the Brazilian reality. Let's push this debate in Anvisa [National Health Surveillance Agency, responsible for the labeling rules], "says Ana Paula Bortoletto, nutritionist and researcher at IDEC.
comprehension difficulties
Nutritional characteristics such as amount of calories, sodium, fat and carbohydrates are required information since 2003 in Brazil, but the rule currently in force is binding indications only on the back of packaging, in a table.
Although the aim of informing the consumer, 39.6% of consumers who responded to the survey say they understand partially or very little nutritional table. Among the highlighted factors that hinder the understanding are the font size (61%), the use of technical terms (51%) and visual pollution of the label (41.6%).
According to the researcher Idec, such failures hinder the right to clear and accurate information. So Idec argues that the labeling rules are improved in Brazil.
"Some changes to present to consumers in the survey are old charges Idec, as the inclusion of sugar in the nutrition table and the standardization of information per 100g or per package and not per serving," he explains. These proposals were approved by 98.3% and 80% of Internet users, respectively, as a means to facilitate the understanding of the label.
Source: Idec
To access the IDEC website, click here.
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.