The well-known tangy blue cheese from southwest France ranks both at D or E beneath Nutri-Rating, making it equal to sugary drinks and crisps.
In line with Roquefort makers, this marks an assault on France’s nationwide agricultural and gastronomic heritage.
Sebastien Vignette, head of the Roquefort Confederation, known as the scoring system “a simplistic emblem”. He advised a press convention is: “It’s paradoxical. There are ultra-processed industrial merchandise with preservatives in them that may get an A or B, however our native and really pure merchandise are stigmatised.”
The Roquefort Confederation has known as for the cheese to be made exempt from Nutri-Rating (the French authorities is contemplating making the meals label obligatory subsequent yr) and has requested the Minister of Agriculture and Meals and the Minister of Solidarity and Well being to assist its demand that European our bodies exclude all Protected Geographical Indications from any EU strikes to make it the obligatory FOP diet label of selection throughout the supranational bloc.
Different cheesemakers in France might observe swimsuit: 90% of cheeses are put in D or E classes by Nutri-Rating.
The marketing campaign has the assist of French Stephane Mazars, who represents the Aveyron space which is stepped in Roquefort custom.
“The need to be clear with the buyer have to be rational and based mostly on frequent sense,” he mentioned.
Farm Europe, a suppose tank, additionally supported the Roquefort Confederation’s calls for. “The issue posed by the Nutri-Rating goes nicely past PDO / IGP,” it mentioned in a tweet. “It’s a software for selling ultra-processed, chemical & artificial merchandise to the detriment of pure merchandise rooted in our traditions [and is] deceptive for customers.”
Kicking up a stick
Italian olive oil makers have additionally railed towards the ‘unfair’ Nutri-Rating algorithm which they are saying doesn’t take the well being advantages of olive oils into due account and finally penalises the product. Underneath the Nutri-Rating system, olive oil often receives a yellow C ranking.
The Italian authorities has additionally hit out at Nutri-Rating which it believes unfairly discriminates towards its well-known meals delicacies corresponding to olive oil, Parma ham and Parmigiano cheese and ‘the ideas of the Mediterranean weight loss program’.
Nutri-Rating classifies meals and drinks in keeping with their dietary profile utilizing a scale of 5 colors and letters (A is inexperienced to symbolize one of the best dietary high quality whereas E is a pink to point out it’s the bottom).
Why is Nutri-Rating controversial?
The front-of-pack dietary ranking label has been formally really useful by well being authorities in France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Spain.
Nutri-Rating is calculated by way of an algorithm developed by a group of impartial researchers, which takes under consideration each the vitamins to restrict (ie. energy, saturated fats, sugars and salt) and people parts to favour (corresponding to fibre, proteins, nuts, fruit and greens). The purpose is to permit customers to decide on the wholesome possibility simply.
‘Roquefort is a product excessive in fats, salt and energy…’
Nutri-Rating supporters leapt to the label’s defence after Roquefort’s complaints.
“Most cheeses rank D or E, some rank B or C,” defined Camille Perrin, Senior Meals Coverage Officer at European client organisation BEUC. “Roquefort is a product excessive in fats, salt and energy, so this rating is not any shock for anybody who has ever checked the dietary desk behind the pack. The very fact Roquefort and plenty of cheeses carrying an EU “high quality emblem” have low Nutri-Rating scores doesn’t imply customers ought to cease consuming them. However they need to achieve this often and in small quantities. Nutri-Rating helps customers to match foodstuffs inside a class – say, cheeses or dairy merchandise. As such, evaluating Roquefort to crisps and sodas quantities to evaluating apples and pears, and is mindless from a client perspective.”
Nutri-Rating goals to make dietary data easy, not “simplistic”, she added. “It’s about translating the dietary desk obtainable on the again of the pack, to make it extra comprehensible and usable by customers. What’s the level of getting data customers can not make sense of? Analysis has discovered that colour-coded labels work greatest to assist customers’ basket be more healthy. The World Well being Organisation’s most cancers company (IARC) recently called for the EU-wide adoption of Nutri-Rating because it may gain advantage public well being.”
‘Cheese ought to play the sport of dietary transparency like different meals’
France’s client affiliation CLCV added that — PDO or not — Roqefort and different cheeses are nonetheless wealthy in fatty acids, salt and energy. Like all different meals, they need to subsequently ‘play the sport of dietary transparency as rapidly as attainable’.
“The pleasure of consuming Roquefort should stay a pleasure! Sure, Roquefort is sweet, however additionally it is fatty and salty and the buyer have to be knowledgeable that it’s rated D or E,” the group mentioned in a launch.
“The curiosity of Nutri-Rating is to permit customers to make an knowledgeable selection by evaluating at a look the dietary high quality of merchandise from the identical household. Why not enable it for cheese?”