Food giant Nestlé has given up its resistance to the Nutri-Score and has promised to introduce it throughout Europe. For a long time, the Swiss company was against the French food label and even invented its own – controversial – alternative.
An A for Nesquik?
In a first stage, the producer of brands like Buitoni, KitKat and Nesquik will feature the label in its products sold in countries where the Nutri-Score is already official, such as Belgium and France. The rest of Continental Europe could follow within two years, sources say.
Nestlé France CEO Pierre-Alexandre Teulié admits that it will be impossible to get an A score (very good) for each product, but says his company will see it as a mission to be the best in every category – a target he thinks is quite possible to reach.
Best system
The Nutri-Score adds up a number of positive and negative features of nutritional value to get an overall score: dark green (with the letter A) means the product’s nutritional score is very good and it is recommended to be purchased, while on the other side the E label (red) means that the value is poor and the product should be avoided. The system was developed in France but now spread across Europe as it is quite clear and – according to several studies – also the most likely system to actually change people’s purchases.
Nestlé had developed its own “Evolved Nutritional Label” together with other leaders in the food industry (Coca-Cola, Mars, Mondelez, PepsiCo and Unilever), but it was controversial because it was to lenient towards unhealthy products. Mars already quit the label in March 2018, the others ended their alternative in November 2018.
