On 4 April 2024, the Portuguese government published Decree n.º 3637/2024 in its official gazette, confirming that the NutriScore label was the nutrition label that had “the best conditions to be adopted in Portugal”.

This means that eight European countries have adopted the NutriScore label as their official front-of-pack nutrition label, seven of which are EU member states: France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal.

A clear, simple way to guide healthy eating choices

Penned by the Portuguese secretary of state for health promotion, Margarida Ferna, the regulation’s text noted that the high frequency of chronic diet-related diseases required public health interventions, in particular making nutritional information available to consumers through food packaging.

“[This] can guide healthier eating decisions, especially when this information is presented in a simple and clear way,” it noted.

Portugal’s National Programme for the Promotion of Healthy Eating (PNPAS) has conducted several studies showing that a clear, easy-to-understand nutrition label could help Portuguese consumers make healthier eating choices.

The studies showed that 40% of those surveyed did not understand the nutritional information that is currently presented on food labels and that this difficulty was considerably greater among those with less education. The studies also found that nutrition labels using a colour system may be more easily understood, and that people are between three and five times more likely to choose a healthier food product when such nutritional labels are used on the pack.

While some retailers and manufacturers in Portugal were already using NutriScore on their products – ALDI and Nestlé for example – the government also noted that, in the absence of an officially-backed label, some food businesses were adding other nutrition labels to their product packaging, which was confusing for consumers.

“Therefore, it is imperative to implement a single nutritional labelling system, as well as to encourage its use among the various economic operators in the food sector,” it added.

‘We hope that other countries will follow’

Professor Serge Hercberg from the University of Sorbonne in Paris and University Paris Cité, who led the team of researchers that created NutriScore, said this was “a great victory for science and public health”.

“Congratulations to our Portuguese colleagues and to all those who supported the Nutri-Score and contributed to its adoption in Portugal,” he added.

“We hope that, despite the reluctance of the European Commission which gives in to pressure of economic and politic lobbies and has not yet adopted the NutriScore as the mandatory nutritional front-of-pack label for Europe, other countries will follow the example of Portugal and join the eight European countries that have already adopted and implemented the NutriScore.”

Pressure on Commission to introduce pan-EU nutrition label

National governments of EU member states cannot make front-of-pack nutrition labelling mandatory as this could constitute a trade barrier within the bloc’s single market. The European Commission has committed to introduce an obligatory pan-EU label but this has been stalled for years in the face of strong opposition from certain industrial sectors and national governments, such as Italy.

However, civil society and public organisations have been calling on the Commission to act.

Reacting to the Portuguese announcement, consumer rights organisation and food industry watchdog Foodwatch International tweeted on X: “EU Commission, its time for a unified, mandatory front of pack nutrition label across Europe. Lets make health a priority!”

Emma Calvert, senior food policy officer at Brussels-based consumer rights organisation BEUC previously told Ingredients Network: “[We] support the European Commission’s commitment to come forward with a mandatory EU-wide front-of-pack nutrition label and we believe the Nutri-Score is the best label for the job.

“However, should the Commission fail to progress on this file, member states should be permitted to go further and make a front-of-pack nutrition label mandatory in their member state.”