NUTRITION

Food labeling. In September, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) participated in a virtual conference on front-of-package food labeling in Latin America and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) held a talk to present the current situation of overweight children in the region. At the FAO and UNICEF events respectively, participants were urged to advance in regulatory frameworks that promote good nutrition in terms of reducing the supply of high-calorie products, encouraging the consumption of foods without warning labels and promoting healthy eating in children and adolescents. In the coming months, UNICEF is expected to carry out campaigns to promote front-of-package food labeling laws together with FAO, supporting a pending labeling bill in Argentina.

During the FAO virtual conference, specialists and health authorities from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay shared experiences of implementation and positive effects of the laws on front-of-package labeling and advertising regulation. In this way, they argued that these laws allow reducing the supply of products with a high percentage of critical nutrients, and warned that the food industry seeks to prevent the advance of this type of measures arguing that they have a negative impact in economic terms.

On the other hand, within the framework of UNICEF’s talk, the organization urged the countries of the region to strengthen and implement regulatory measures to guarantee the quality of food in homes and schools, encourage the recovery of school feeding programs, access to healthier food in families and promote more spaces and initiatives for physical activity. In turn, based on its own statistics, UNICEF highlighted that among the main causes of overweight at the regional level are the consumption of ultra-processed foods and sugary beverages, together with the lack of physical activity.

Next steps

In the coming months, UNICEF and FAO are expected to continue to push for the treatment of the healthy eating bill in Argentina, as well as to carry out new advocacy campaigns so that other countries in the region incorporate nutritional labeling laws into their regulatory frameworks to improve Latin American food indices and reduce the level of child overweight. To this end, the organizations will coordinate efforts with political leaders, public agencies, representatives of the private sector and local leaders in the field.