News: Spanish products receive the "nutri-score" on the packaging

The Spanish health service is working on a campaign to prevent obesity in children in particular by promoting healthier products and to indicate how much sugar, salt or fats there are in a particular product.

The Ministry of Health now comes with the "nutri-score" or a health stoplight with different colors and letters.

Recently it was announced that the Spanish Ministry of Health is working on a mission to offer products in shops that contain less salt, unsaturated fats and sugar to improve the health of the population. In order to prevent or combat obesity, the ministry now comes with the "nutri-score", a series of codes with different colors that have to indicate whether something is healthy or not.

The "nutri-score" is not something exclusive for Spain because it has already been introduced in several other countries such as France and more and more in Belgium (in the Netherlands there is still discussion). It is a series of five color codes with letters that neatly summarize the information about the nutritional value of foodstuffs.

On the packaging there is an icon on the front with the text "nutri-score" above it. The colors range from dark green (A) to dark red (F) whereby the algorithm with which the score is calculated takes into account both positive and negative elements such as the content of sugars, saturated fatty acids, calories and salt in food have a negative influence on the score , while the fruit, vegetable, fiber or protein content can improve the score.

However, it will take some time in Spain to see mandatory color codes and pictograms in all supermarkets and on all products. However, many companies will start voluntarily with the application of the "nutri-score" pictograms, but it will take at least another year before the ministry makes it mandatory in Spain.