On September 26, 2023, Mathilde Touvier, epidemiologist and team director at CRESS, was on the Inserm show 30 minutes santé to talk about Nutri-Score.
This 39 minutes long web show entitled “We tell you everything about the Nutri Score”, available on the Inserm YouTube channel, analyses the Nutri-Score and its objectives, since its creation in 2017.
Mathilde Touvier explains the objective of the Nutri-Score: “To translate with a simple logo, 5 letters, 5 colors, on the front of the packaging, information that can certainly be found on the back of the packaging, the fiber content, fat, sugars etc., but that no one is going to look at in complicated tables”
The show outlines the reasons for its creation, to point out in a simple way, at “a single glance”, the products with the best nutritional qualities, so that buyers can see this information very quickly. The dual objective of Nutri-Score is, on one hand, for consumers to choose foods that are more favorable to health, and therefore there is “less risk of disease”, and on the other hand, to encourage manufacturers to improve nutritional quality of their products.
The show also discusses the perception of the Nutri-Score among consumers, which is rather heterogeneous. Mathilde Touvier emphasises that this logo is independent of manufacturers and is calculated scientifically. In addition, she indicates that numerous studies around the world have since shown the positive effects on public health of this logo.
Furthermore, she explains that the Nutri-Score will gradually integrate scientific advances – particularly advances in studies on food additives, ultra-processed foods, etc., to obtain more complete information.
