Never before have we benefited from a food environment offering such guarantees in terms of safety and knowledge of what we eat.
Knowledge is power or, said in Latin, “knowledge is power. Whether the originality of the phrase belongs to Sir Francis Bacon or to Thomas Hobbes (There is some debate over this attribution), the fact is that having information and knowing the data on all issues that concern us allows us to make informed choices. And when it comes to food, having this information is something very relevant and everyday. Not that there are many studies on the amount of time we spend thinking about food in our daily lives, but some publications indicate that on average we do it 15 to 18 times while we are awake (a figure very similar to the number of times we think about sex each day).
At any rate, Every day we make hundreds of food choices whether consciously or not. Among those who are, the motivations that end up choosing a particular food can vary considerably between different consumers. According to the 2022 Eurobarometer on food security in the European Unionprice is the factor that influences consumer decisions the most (54%), followed by taste (51%), food safety and origin (both 46%). Furthermore, 40% of consumers consider the nutritional composition to be very important to the point of guiding their choices, while 16% emphasize that in these choices they take into account the environmental and climatic impact and 15% of consumers take into consideration their ethics and beliefs (relating to nature, the form of production and distribution of food).
European Regulation 1169/2011 regulates the information provided to the consumer
So much so that this European regulation published in 2011 It is titled as is and contains all the aspects that must be present in food labeling, both in substance (sections and conditions that must be included) and in form (appearance, units, font size, layout, etc. .). Thanks to this regulation, European consumers are among the best protected and informed citizens in the world when it comes to the food available to them.
Thus, and whatever the purchasing factors of each consumer, we can be sure that food labeling will provide the information necessary to meet these criteria.
As can be seen briefly in the campaign “Labeling matters a lot» (with a wonderful double meaning) launched by the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN), food labeling information can be grouped into three large blocks:
- Basic information, which includes product name (identity), composition (ingredients) and origin (manufacturer), among other characteristics.
- Information on protection and safety of use, related to its duration (either the expiration date or the expiration date), storage or conservation conditions and the presence of allergens.
- Nutritional information regarding the energy value, the amount of carbohydrates, sugars, fats, saturated fats, proteins and salt (or other nutrients depending on the characteristics of the product), as well as other information intended for consumers with special dietary needs.
Mandatory information for foods sold packaged includes:
- The legal name of the product and if this does not exist, it must offer a common name or failing that a descriptive name to be able to know at any time what it is.
- The list of ingredients ordered from highest to lowest weight, which includes all substances or elements used in the manufacture of the food and which remain in the final product.
- Indication of allergens prominently in the list of ingredients in order to indicate to the consumer the presence of all the substances used in manufacturing and present in products causing allergies or intolerances. You have more details in this link.
- The net quantity of product in said container expressed in liters, centiliters, milliliters, kilograms or grams, depending on the type of product.
- The expiration date or best before date as long as the container is unopened and, in addition, it may include information on the “second expiration”, i.e. how to store and how long to last consumption of the food once the container is closed. open. You have more details in this link.
- Recommendations for use when this is not obvious or if it is difficult to use the product without these recommendations.
- Name or company name and address of the manufacturer, to be able to locate it if necessary; in addition to the batch which guarantees traceability. Indication of the country of origin or place of provenance will be mandatory when its omission could mislead the consumer.
- The quantity of alcohol present if the drinks contain more than 1.2 degrees of alcohol, that is to say when the volume percentage of alcohol is equal to or greater than 1.2%.
- Nutritional information relating to the energy value and quantity of certain key nutrients. You have more details in this link.
“Labeling Matters” is an AESAN initiative aimed at providing information on all information included in labeling.
In turn, foods that are not marketed packaged or that are supplied through communities (restaurants, school canteens, workplaces, etc.) have certain obligations other than those mentioned above, but the relative information to product safety will never be ignored. consumers.
Knowing how to locate all this information – and being able to read it – is essential
A survey carried out by the OCU in 2023 pointed out that less than half of Spaniards read the label carefully when they buy a food for the first time. I don’t know about you, but this seems like an unprecedented fact to me, and I don’t think it’s due to my particular job as a dietitian-nutritionist. I am aware that a server spends more time than average on these issues; You could even say that I dissect most food labels, especially when I first buy them. But from my extreme, to the other, that of not paying the slightest attention to the question of labeling, it seems to me that there are many gray areas, that there are many ways of demonstrating a certain responsibility in what is acquired. If all consumers read these labels, many people may ultimately be spared many surprises about what they purchased.
Returning to the OCU survey, among the reasons given by participants to justify the lack of attention paid to food labeling, the size of the font stands out (52% of respondents) despite the fact that a minimum size is regulated, the time required to do it (29%), not having this habit (29%), being difficult to understand (27%) and not finding what you are looking for (12%). Even though, I insist, RE 1169/2011 establishes a minimum font size intended to be sufficient to facilitate readability, I agree with the opinion of many consumers when they assert that the font is sometimes small. At 54, I have difficulty reading a lot of labels and agree that this might be a question for revisiting (as several consumer associations think). However, I disagree with the rest of the reasons for not reading labels since the practice, ultimately, saves time, understanding the information and finding the data(s) you are looking for. Let’s remember, as I began, that knowledge, information, is power… being able to make choices better aligned with our interests and needs.
Please note: This content was written under a collaboration agreement with the #Safe2EatEU campaignpromoted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the relevant national food safety authorities throughout Europe, in our case, AESAN. The aim of #Safe2EatEU is to enable European consumers to learn more about food safety in Europe and to help them make informed decisions about what foods to buy, eat and enjoy every day in a safe and healthy way.
