
Document 24
- Ref. Ares(2021)2172179 -29/03/2021
From:
{SANTE)
Sent:
lundi 29 mars 202112:04
To:
-(SANTE);
{SANTE);-bine
{SANTE)
Cc:
-(SANTE)
Subject:
Final BTO Minutes - UNESDA
Dear all,
Please find attached the final version of the BTO minutes of the meeting with UNESDA from 17 March
2021:
BTO - virtual meeting between SANTE and UNESDA on EU FOPL - Nutri-Score and Soft Drinks,
17 March 2021 15 - 16h
Participants:
SANTE.El: ____ _,
EXTERNAL:
Europe),.__ _____ __
The purpose of the meeting was for UNESDA to share the findings of their report "Nutri-Score & Soft
Drinks - Proposals for optimizing the Nutri-Score algorithm for beverages to encourage reformulation and
support informed choice".
UNESDA: highlighted the following issues during the presentation:
• Recap on the general position of UNESDA on FOPNL: UNESDA supports the harmonisation of
FOPNL under EU governance to empower consumers to make informed choices and to ensure
smooth functioning of the Single Market. UNESDA is currently not promoting any preferred
FOPNL scheme at EU level, but they stressed the importance of a scheme that meets the
expectations of consumers and at the same time incentivizes producers to continue reformulating
their products. A key component highlighted by UNESDA was the "compatibility" with existing
• EU legislation (e.g. the EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation).
The UNESDA report on Nutri-Score and soft drinks consists of two parts:
1) A scientific review co-authored by the French agency LinkUp and UNESDA. UNESDA
concluded that the current Nutri-Score system is not optimized to meet the objectives of
FOPNL schemes. UNESDA identified three key success factors for FOPNL schemes:
clear, easily understandable consumer information; offering consumers a balanced
distribution within a specific category to accurately reflect nutritional content; and
incentivise food and beverage producers to reformulate to widen consumer choice.
2) An analysis of the performance of the existing Nutri-Score on soft drinks currently sold
in Belgium, France and Spain compared to three different alternative options provided by
UNESDA for optimizing the current algorithm ofNutri-Score for beverages
• Approach 1: Alignment with the sugar thresholds set out by the EU Nutrition and
Health Claims Regulation for relevant nutrition claims
• Approach 2 and 3: no change to the sugar thresholds of the Nutri-Score
algorithm, but slight evolution to the points allocated for each ranking
Best,