In my opinion, Nutri Score is a very questionable food product evaluation system. What’s more, it’s a bad system. (…) It is much easier for significantly processed products to meet the required metrics than for natural and minimally processed products, says Krzysztof Pawiński, president of the Maspex Group.
Krzysztof Pawiński, president of the Maspex Group, is critical of Nutri Score. “It’s a bad system.” photo: PTWP/shutterstock
- Nutri Score is a food labeling system developed by French scientists from the Research Team on the Epidemiology of Nutrition (EREN);
- The system is implemented and promoted by, among others: Lidl, Biedronka and Auchan, as well as many manufacturers, including: Danone and Nestle;
- Nutri Score and its methodology have also attracted numerous criticisms from some dietitians and food producers;
- Krzysztof Pawiński joined the chorus of critics. The president of the Maspex Group, the owner of brands such as Tymbark, Kubuś and Łowicz, considers the Nutri Score methodology to be highly questionable.
President of the Maspex Group about Nutri Score: It’s a bad system
Krzysztof Pawińskithe president of the Maspex Group, was critical of the Nutri Score system.
– Nutri-Score is, in my opinion, a very questionable food product evaluation system. What’s more, it’s a bad system. The natural content of e.g. sugars in a product degrades the rating, while the addition of artificial sweeteners increases it (this is an example from my backyard: natural juice vs. cola zero). According to this assessment, natural honey is something terrible with a deterrent rating. The same applies to natural regional specialties, Pawiński mentions.
Pawiński: I hope that Poland will ban Nutri Score
The president of Maspex hopes that Poland will ban the use of Nutri Score.
– Italy as a country recognized Nutri Score as discriminatory and banned its use. I hope that Poland will follow in their footsteps. Generally it is much easier for significantly processed products to meet the required metrics than for natural and minimally processed products – he concluded.
Most of the research in favor of Nutri-Score was conducted by the creators of this system?
As we wrote recently, Dutch scientists showed that most of the research on Nutri-Score was conducted by authors who are employed or associated with its creators at the EREN institute in France. Almost all of them were beneficial for Nutri-Score.
The researchers revealed that of 56 Nutri-Score studies conducted by authors employed by or affiliated with its creators, 52 were in favor of the system.
However, of the 49 studies conducted by independent and unaffiliated researchers, 61 percent have an unfavorable result for Nutri-Score.
The authors say this shows that “the conclusions of research and publications on Nutri-Score are biased.” The researchers note that the WHO/IARC report that supported the scientific argument behind Nutri-Score was also written by the creators of Nutri-Score.
Who is pushing the Nutri-Score system in the European Union today?
Despite the project being rejected in more than seven EU countries, heavily criticized in others and ultimately shelved by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health, the Belgian EU Presidency is making one last attempt before the European elections in June this year to reach a consensus on the harmonized FOPNL system.
Belgium is one of five EU countries (France, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium) to have officially adopted Nutri-Score, while it has been banned by consumer and competition authorities in Italy and Romania, and is also criticized by research scientists nutrition in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Poland.
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