2016 Food policy

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, par. 76 and par. 78 (2016)

Text of the recommendation

76. Nutrition labels allow people to make informed decisions on their food options and incentivizes food manufacturers to reformulate their products to target healthconscious consumers. Many countries have mandatory nutrient lists on pre-packaged foods, and some have gone further to implement creative schemes to alert consumers about foods that undermine their nutritional welfare. For example, (...) Chile has food labels with a “stop sign” warning message when calorie, saturated fat, sugar or sodium limits have been exceeded; and Ecuador requires packaged foods to carry a “traffic light” label indicating fats, sugar and salt by colour. (...)

78. Although WHO has recommended that the private sector adopt evidence-based “responsible marketing”, and despite some positive initiatives as described above, ensuring informative labelling is still an uphill battle for nutrition and health advocates.

Citation

Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Interim Report on the right to food, A/71/282, (2016). Par. 76, 78. Available at: https://undocs.org/A/71/282