2023-10-26 02:53:14
The National Law has been passed for two years and specialists agreed that although “it is being implemented correctly” they observed that 4 out of 10 products fail to comply with the standard, for example through “marketing strategies.”
The National Front Labeling Law No. 27,642, which warns about excess fats, sodium and sugars in foods, has been sanctioned for two years and specialists agreed that although “it is being implemented correctly”, there is still “a lot to do”.
The Healthy Eating Promotion Lawbetter known as the Frontal Labeling Law, was approved on October 26, 2021 and, as explained by Andrea Graciano, enrolled in the College of Nutritionists of the province of Buenos Aires, “we are celebrating a historic moment in our country.”
Although it was approved in October 2021, it was enacted into law on November 12 and on March 23 of this year it was approved to be put into effect in stages starting in August.
The Inter-American Heart Foundation (FIC) of Argentina monitored compliance with the law in eight supermarkets in the City of Buenos Aires and in the province of Buenos Aires where, of a total of 138 products, they observed that 4 out of 10 products do not comply with the standard in some aspect.
“In 88% of the supermarkets we saw that there were promotions associated with those products with seals, which is a quality prohibited by law. For example, 50% discount on the second unit or two for one. These types of promotions are prohibited precisely to discourage the purchase of these products,” said Victoria Tiscornia, Master in Nutrition and FIC researcher.
According to the specialist, the non-compliance they observed the most was with respect to “marketing techniques.”
“The law prohibits that products with at least one seal cannot present a marketing technique aimed at children, for example, characters, gifts, games on the packaging. 28% of the cases evaluated had this type of techniques,” he remarked.
For its part, Ariana Krochik, National Policy Coordinator at Consciente Colectivo, pointed out that although There are many points of the law that are being complied with correctly, “there is still much to do and continue to apply.”
In that sense, the specialist indicated that there are products that we see on shelves today that do not have the octagons warning about their ingredients due to the extensions for their application and that this “is very confusing to the consumer, because they believe that a food is healthy when it is not”.
“This is a law that seeks to prevent non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. And this is prevented by providing information to people and empowering the consumer so they can choose,” he noted.
And he added that “warning seals provide information to the consumer so that they can choose consciously and truthfully, knowing what the products have and choosing what to consume. The consumption of any product is not prohibited.”
For Graciano, the law is “comprehensive” and contains multiple regulations, including some “lesser known” such as the protection of school environments.
“These articles establish the mandatory implementation of food and nutritional education content and prohibit products that have even a warning seal from being offered or marketed in schools,” he noted and indicated that these articles are those that still ” no progress has been made.”
However, the specialists agreed that the general impact “has been very positive.”
“Where front labeling is most effective is on products falsely perceived as healthy.. Those products that we chose with the conviction that they were healthy and nutritious options and that we can now identify that in reality they are not,” he emphasized.
For his part, Tiscornia pointed out that another important aspect that is being evaluated is the reformulation of products for something healthier in some cases where they changed their composition.
“The ideal is to change ultra-processed products for more natural foods,” he said, adding that “we hope that over time there will be positive results in Argentina, especially given the evidence that already exists in the region.”
The specialist gave an example of the case of Chile, which implemented the Frontal Labeling law in 2016, where there were “positive results in improvements in eating habits.”
“Facilitating the identification of unhealthy products easily and quickly when one goes shopping led to a significant reduction in the purchase of products with stamps, for example reducing the purchase of sugary drinks by 25% in just six months after implementing the law,” he concluded.
Source: Télam
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