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Background Chile’s Food Labelling Law was implemented in three phases with increasingly stricter limits. After initial implementation, sugars and sodium decreased in packaged foods, with no significant changes for saturated fats. It is unclear whether full implementation is linked with further reformulation or if producers reversed changes due to consumers’ preferences. This study examines changes in the proportion of “high in” products and the nutrient content of packaged foods during the Law’s three phases. Methods This repeated cross-sectional study included the best-selling packaged foods and beverages during 2015–2020. We analyzed the proportion of products classified as “high in” critical nutrients using the final phase cutoffs and examined changes in the content of calories, sugars, sodium, and saturated fats in the three phases. To assess the changes in proportions, we used Firth’s bias-reduced logistic regression models and the Cochran-Armitage test for trends. Quantile regression was used to evaluate changes in nutrient content. Results The proportion of “high in” products decreased from 70.8 to 52.5% after the final phase ( p  < 0.001). The proportion of “high in” sugars products decreased across all sweet food and beverage groups ( p  < 0.001), except for candies (− 4.5 percentage points (pp), p  = 0.09). The largest reductions occurred in sweet spreads and breakfast cereals (− 44.3 and − 40.4 pp, respectively, p  < 0.001). For the proportion of “high in” sodium, reductions occurred in all savory food groups ( p  < 0.001), except cheeses and ready-to-eat meals ( p  < 0.24), with the largest decreases in savory baked products and non-sausage meat products (− 40.4 and − 38.9 pp, respectively, p  < 0.001). Reductions in “high in” saturated fats and energy were less consistent, with the largest decreases in nuts and snacks and savory spreads (− 22.2 and − 20.0 pp, respectively, p  < 0.001) and savory baked products and breakfast cereals (− 32.8 and − 25.7 pp, respectively, p  < 0.001), respectively. After full implementation, most sweet categories showed left shifts in sugars distribution, except for candies. Similarly, most savory categories showed left shifts for sodium, except savory spreads and ready-to-eat meals. Changes increased as regulation limits tightened ( p for trend < 0.001). Conclusions After fully implementing Chile’s law, the proportion of “high in” products and the content of critical nutrients decreased in all food and beverage categories. The largest changes occurred for sodium in savory foods and sugars in sweet foods/beverages. Stricter regulatory limits were associated with decreases in critical nutrient content over time.

Nowadays, food packaging is a crucial tool for preserving food quality and has become an inseparable part of our daily life. Strong consumer demand and market trends enforce more advanced and creative forms of food packaging. New packaging development requires safety evaluations that always implicate the application of complex analytical methods. The present work reviews the development and application of new analytical methods for detection of possible food contaminants from the packaging origin on the quality and safety of fresh food. Among food contaminants migrants, set-off migrants from printing inks, polymer degradation products, and aromatic volatile compounds can be found that may compromise the safety and organoleptic properties of food. The list of possible chemical migrants is very wide and includes antioxidants, antimicrobials, intentionally added substances (IAS), non-intentionally added substances (NIAS), monomers, oligomers, and nanoparticles. All this information collected prior to the analysis will influence the type of analyzing samples and molecules (analytes) and therefore the selection of a convenient analytical method. Different analytical strategies will be discussed, including techniques for direct polymer analysis.

The development of convenient and low-cost packages, together with the increased consumer demands for safer products, have resulted in the conduction of extensive research and the publication of numerous studies related to the phenomenon of migration. The large number of synthetic materials used for the manufacture of packages makes the evaluation of the food–package interactions quite complicated. Different parameters such as the nature of the food of interest, the type of food–package contact, the time and temperature of contact, the packaging materials used, the properties of the migrating substances, as well as the amount of potential migrants contained in the packaging materials, can drastically affect the migration rate and extent. Due to the extreme variety of foods used, several food simulants have been suggested and applied for testing the migration phenomenon under various laboratory conditions. The use of many of those simulants is defined by national and international legislation. This review article covers the main migration phenomena, which are related to the most commonly used packaging materials. It is clearly demonstrated that the complexity of the migration phenomena requires more research to establish internationally accepted risk management procedures and standardised testing methods.

Interpretive, front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labels may encourage reformulation of packaged foods. We aimed to evaluate the effects of the Health Star Rating (HSR), a new voluntary interpretive FOP labelling system, on food reformulation in New Zealand. Annual surveys of packaged food and beverage labelling and composition were undertaken in supermarkets before and after adoption of HSR i.e., 2014 to 2016. Outcomes assessed were HSR uptake by food group star ratings of products displaying a HSR label; nutritional composition of products displaying HSR compared with non-HSR products; and the composition of products displaying HSR labels in 2016 compared with their composition prior to introduction of HSR. In 2016, two years after adoption of the voluntary system, 5.3% of packaged food and beverage products surveyed (n = 807/15,357) displayed HSR labels. The highest rates of uptake were for cereals, convenience foods, packaged fruit and vegetables, sauces and spreads, and ‘Other’ products (predominantly breakfast beverages). Products displaying HSR labels had higher energy density but had significantly lower mean saturated fat, total sugar and sodium, and higher fibre, contents than non-HSR products (all p-values < 0.001). Small but statistically significant changes were observed in mean energy density (−29 KJ/100 g, p = 0.002), sodium (−49 mg/100 g, p = 0.03) and fibre (+0.5 g/100 g, p = 0.001) contents of HSR-labelled products compared with their composition prior to adoption of HSR. Reformulation of HSR-labelled products was greater than that of non-HSR-labelled products over the same period, e.g., energy reduction in HSR products was greater than in non-HSR products (−1.5% versus −0.4%), and sodium content of HSR products decreased by 4.6% while that of non-HSR products increased by 3.1%. We conclude that roll-out of the voluntary HSR labelling system is driving healthier reformulation of some products. Greater uptake across the full food supply should improve population diets.

Public discussion, advocacy, and legislative consideration of policies aimed at reducing consumption of processed foods, such as sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes and mandatory front-of-package (FOP) warning labels, may stimulate product reformulation as a strategy to prevent regulation. In Colombia, there have been major legislative pushes for SSB taxes and FOP labels, although neither has passed to date. In light of the ongoing policy debate and successful implementation of similar policies in Peru and Chile, we explored manufacturer reformulation in the Colombian food supply. We compared the quantities of nutrients of concern (including sugar, sodium, and saturated fat) from the nutrition facts panels of the same 102 packaged foods and 36 beverages from the top-selling brands in Colombia between 2016 and 2018. Our analyses showed a substantial decrease in median sugar content of beverages, from 9.2 g per 100 mL to 5.2 g per 100 mL, and an increase in the percentage of beverages containing non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), from 33% to 64% (p = 0.003). No meaningful changes in the quantities of nutrients of concern among foods were observed. Our findings suggest little reformulation has occurred in Colombia in the absence of mandatory policies, except for the substitution of sugar with NNS among beverages.

Front-of-pack nutrition labelling (FoPL) of packaged foods can promote healthier diets. Australia and New Zealand (NZ) adopted the voluntary Health Star Rating (HSR) scheme in 2014. We studied the impact of voluntary adoption of HSR on food reformulation relative to unlabelled foods and examined differential impacts for more-versus-less healthy foods. Annual nutrition information panel data were collected for nonseasonal packaged foods sold in major supermarkets in Auckland from 2013 to 2019 and in Sydney from 2014 to 2018. The analysis sample covered 58,905 unique products over 14 major food groups. We used a difference-in-differences design to estimate reformulation associated with HSR adoption. Healthier products adopted HSR more than unhealthy products: >35% of products that achieved 4 or more stars displayed the label compared to <15% of products that achieved 2 stars or less. Products that adopted HSR were 6.5% and 10.7% more likely to increase their rating by ≥0.5 stars in Australia and NZ, respectively. Labelled products showed a -4.0% [95% confidence interval (CI): -6.4% to -1.7%, p = 0.001] relative decline in sodium content in NZ, and there was a -1.4% [95% CI: -2.7% to -0.0%, p = 0.045] sodium change in Australia. HSR adoption was associated with a -2.3% [-3.7% to -0.9%, p = 0.001] change in sugar content in NZ and a statistically insignificant -1.1% [-2.3% to 0.1%, p = 0.061] difference in Australia. Initially unhealthy products showed larger reformulation effects when adopting HSR than healthier products. No evidence of a change in protein or saturated fat content was observed. A limitation of our study is that results are not sales weighted. Thus, it is not able to assess changes in overall nutrient consumption that occur because of HSR-caused reformulation. Also, participation into labelling and reformulation is jointly determined by producers in this observational study, impacting its generalisability to settings with mandatory labelling. In this study, we observed that reformulation changes following voluntary HSR labelling are small, but greater for initially unhealthy products. Initially unhealthy foods were, however, less likely to adopt HSR. Our results, therefore, suggest that mandatory labelling has the greatest potential for improving the healthiness of packaged foods.

Nutrient profiling (NP) models rate the nutritional quality of individual foods, based on their nutrient composition. Their goal is to identify nutrient-rich foods, generally defined as those that contain more nutrients than calories and are low in fat, sugar and salt. NP models have provided the scientific basis for evaluating nutrition and health claims and regulating marketing and advertising to children. The food industry has used NP methods to reformulate product portfolios. To help define what we mean by healthy foods, NP models need to be based on published nutrition standards, mandated serving sizes and open-source nutrient composition databases. Specifically, the development and testing of NP models for public health should follow the seven decision steps outlined by the European Food Safety Authority. Consistent with this scheme, the nutrient-rich food (NRF) family of indices was based on a variable number of qualifying nutrients (from six to fifteen) and on three disqualifying nutrients (saturated fat, added sugar, sodium). The selection of nutrients and daily reference amounts followed nutrient standards for the USA. The base of calculation was 418·4 kJ (100 kcal), in preference to 100 g, or serving sizes. The NRF algorithms, based on unweighted sums of percent daily values, subtracted negative (LIM) from positive (NRn) subscores (NRn – LIM). NRF model performance was tested with respect to energy density and independent measures of a healthy diet. Whereas past uses of NP modelling have been regulatory or educational, voluntary product reformulation by the food industry may have most impact on public health.

Production and consumption of olive oil is very important in Europe, being this product a basic element in the Mediterranean diet since long ago. The project objective is two-fold: a study of the contribution of virgin olive oils (VOOs) usual packaging to the whole life cycle of the product and a study of the environmental consequences of the Spanish Government regulation on VOO packaging. A life cycle assessment (LCA) according to ISO 14044 has been performed using the CML methodology for the impact assessment. The results show that the packaging influence varies from 2 to 300%, depending on the impact category and type of packaging (glass, tin or polyethylene terephtalate). Glass, which is related to higher quality perception by consumers, was found to be the most influencing material (due to its weight); however, this impact may be fairly reduced by applying ecodesign strategies (such as weight reduction and recycled-glass percentage increase). A new Spanish regulation on the mandatory use of non-refillable oilers in HORECA establishments (hotels, restaurants and caterings) aims to provide more quality assurance and better information to consumers; however, it was also found to mean a 74% increase in greenhouse gases emissions. This regulation was deeply discussed at European level and its application was withdraw due to consumers rejection, except for Spain. The findings of the present case study show that LCA and ecodesign should be important tools to be promoted and applied in policy making to reduce non-desirable consequences of regulation.

In this paper, I first provide definitions of nutrient profiling and of a nutrient profile model. I set out the purposes of nutrient profiling: both general and specific. I give two examples of nutrient profile models that have been developed for regulatory purposes by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the UK and the WHO for its European Region – the UK FSA/Ofcom and the WHO-Euro models – and compare the way the models are constructed and function, how they have been developed, the extent to which they have been tested and validated and their use in regulation. Finally I draw some conclusions about the future use of nutrient profiling for regulatory purposes. I argue that its full potential has yet to be realised and give some reasons why. I pose some urgent research questions with respect to nutrient profiling.

Background The use of health and nutrition claims on front-of-pack labels may impact consumers’ food choices; therefore, many countries have established regulations to avoid misinformation. This study describes the prevalence of health and nutrition claims on the front-of-pack of food products in retail stores in Mexico and estimate the potential effects of the Official Mexican Standards 051 (new regulation that includes specifications for implementing warning labels and other packaging elements such as health and nutrition claims on less healthy foods) on the prevalence of these claims. Methods This is a cross-sectional study in which health and nutrition claims, nutrition information panels, and the list of ingredients of all foods and beverages available in the main retail stores in Mexico City were collected. The products were grouped by level of processing according to the NOVA food system classification. Claims were classified using the internationally harmonized INFORMAS taxonomy. According to the criteria of the new Mexican front-of-pack labelling regulation, the effect on the reduction on the prevalence of health and nutrition claims was estimated by type of food and by energy and nutrients of concern thresholds. Results Of 17,264 products, 33.8% displayed nutrition claims and 3.4% health claims. In total, 80.8% of all products in the Mexican market were classified as “less healthy”; 48.2% of products had excess calories, 44.6% had excess sodium, and 40.7% excess free sugars. The new regulation would prevent 39.4% of products with claims from displaying health and nutrition claims ( P  < 0.001); the largest reduction is observed for ultra-processed foods (51.1%, P  < 0.001). The regulation thresholds that resulted in the largest reduction of claims were calories (OR 0.62, P  < 0.001) and non-sugar sweeteners (OR 0.54, P  < 0.001). Conclusions The new Mexican front-of-pack labelling regulation will prevent most processed and ultra-processed foods from displaying health and nutrition claims and will potentially improve information on packaging for consumers.