Assessment of the Effects of Updated Nutri-Score Nutrient Profiling Algorithm Using a Representative Slovenian Food Supply Dataset †
1
Nutrition Institute, Koprska ulica 98, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
2
Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
3
VIST–Faculty of Applied Sciences, Gerbičeva ulica 53, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the 14th European Nutrition Conference FENS 2023, Belgrade, Serbia, 14–17 November 2023.
Proceedings 2023, 91(1), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091045
Published: 16 November 2023
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of The 14th European Nutrition Conference FENS 2023)
Abstract
:Background: Front-of-package nutrition labelling (FOPNL) is an important public health tool for promoting healthier food choices. Therefore, the European Commission has committed to proposing harmonised mandatory FOPNL in Europe. A relevant option for this harmonisation is Nutri-Score (NS), which, however, has been subject to some criticism about its alignment with nutritional recommendations. As a result, the Scientific Committee of the NS published two reports in 2022 and 2023, updating the NS algorithm. The aim of our study was to exploit differences between previous (NS2021) and updated (NS2023) algorithm, using foods from Slovenian food supply. Methods: A total of 19,510 branded foods/drinks from the 2020 Slovenian food supply database were profiled using NS2021 and NS2023. We focused on comparing the distribution of each grade and the discriminatory ability between NS2021 and NS2023, while identifying products that were most affected by the NS2023 changes. We also examined changes in alignment with Slovenian nutritional recommendations based on nationally adapted WHO Europe nutrient profile (WHOE). Results: The results show that both NS2021 and NS2023 have good discriminatory ability, with NS2023 being slightly better in 12 sub-categories. Overall, NS2023 was stricter, with E being the most common grade (32%), whereas NS2021 predominantly assigned a grade of D (28%). While the overall proportion of products with grade C remained almost unaffected, there was a notable decrease in “healthier” products graded A or B, from 30% (NS2021) to 23% (NS2023). NS2023 was stricter than NS2021 in almost all main categories, except for beverages and eggs. Alignment with the WHOE profile was moderate (κ = 0.59) for NS2021 and strong (κ = 0.65) for NS2023. Alignment was improved especially for edible oils and emulsions, fruits and vegetables, and snack foods. Discussion: NS2023 was shown to be stricter and more aligned with recommendations than NS2021. The updated NS2023 addressed limitations such as better grading of cooking oils (especially olive oil), higher penalisation of high sugar and salt content, lower grading of beverages with non-nutritive sweeteners, and slight modifications for nuts and cheeses. This study gives first insights into how the update of the NS algorithm works on real-life data and can support policymakers in the implementation of harmonised FOPNL in Europe.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, I.P.; data analyses, E.H.; methodology, I.P. and E.H.; formal analyses, E.H.; writing—original draft preparation, E.H.; manuscript writing—review and editing, I.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
Data collections for this study were conducted by the Nutrition Institute (Ljubljana, Slovenia) within the national research programme “Nutrition and Public Health” (P3-0395) and the “Infrastructure Programme for the Monitoring of the Composition and Labelling Of Foods” (IO-0054)–funded by the Slovenian Research Agency, and within the Food Nutrition Security Cloud project (FNS-Cloud), which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme (H2020-EU.3.2.2.3.–A Sustainable and Competitive Agri-Food Industry) under Grant Agreement No. 863059. The information and views in this report do not necessarily reflect the official opinion or position of the European Union. Neither European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors without undue reservation (without disclosure of specific food brands or other identifiers). Requests to access the datasets should be directed to Igor Pravst ([email protected]).
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results. I.P. has led and participated in various other research projects in the area of nutrition, public health, and food technology, which were (co)funded by the Slovenian Research Agency, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Slovenia, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of the Republic of Slovenia, and in the case of specific applied research projects, also by food businesses. While he has not been involved in the development or implementation of NS, he was involved in independent studies that assessed NS, and disclosed his support for the implementation of mandatory harmonised FOPNL in the EU.
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© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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MDPI and ACS Style
Hafner, E.; Pravst, I. Assessment of the Effects of Updated Nutri-Score Nutrient Profiling Algorithm Using a Representative Slovenian Food Supply Dataset. Proceedings 2023, 91, 45. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091045
AMA Style
Hafner E, Pravst I. Assessment of the Effects of Updated Nutri-Score Nutrient Profiling Algorithm Using a Representative Slovenian Food Supply Dataset. Proceedings. 2023; 91(1):45. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091045
Chicago/Turabian StyleHafner, Edvina, and Igor Pravst. 2023. "Assessment of the Effects of Updated Nutri-Score Nutrient Profiling Algorithm Using a Representative Slovenian Food Supply Dataset" Proceedings 91, no. 1: 45. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2023091045
