The Dutch government introduced the Nutri-Score food choice logo on 1 January 2024. A food choice logo can make it easier for people to make better food choices. That means it can also help lower the number of people who are overweight. This is one of the goals of the National Prevention Agreement. A food choice logo can also motivate producers to improve food composition. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has asked RIVM to investigate how the Nutri-Score system can be matched as closely as possible to the Dutch dietary guidelines. RIVM will monitor the Nutri-Score as well.
What is Nutri-Score?
Nutri-Score is a food choice logo from France and helps to choose products with a better composition. The logo gives an overall score for a food product based on the nutritional value, looking at the positives and negatives of the product. Examples of negatives are calories, sugar, saturated fat and salt. Positives are vegetables, fruit, legumes, fibre and protein.
The system gives points for each positive or negative based on the ceiling limit for its amount in the product. Next, it deducts the points for the positives from the points for the negatives to give a total score. Based on this total score, it gives the product an A, B, C, D or E. A dark green ‘A’ means the product has a better composition than the same type of product with a dark orange ‘E’. It does not mean that a product with an A or B is healthy, but it is a better choice than the same type of product with an orange D.
Food choice logos like Nutri-Score help people compare products and make better food choices. De Nutri-Score is especially useful for foods that are not included in the Wheel of Five. The Wheel of Five remains the advice for healthy food. For more information about Nutri-Score, see Nutriscore.nl. A calculation tool is available for companies. They can use it to calculate a product’s Nutri-Score.
What is RIVM’s role in Nutri-Score?
The Netherlands and six other countries are working out how to use the Nutri-Score food choice logo and make its use easier. The other countries are France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland. They are working together in two international bodies: a steering group and a scientific committee. RIVM and the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport are both representing the Netherlands in these bodies.
The steering group is coordinating the introduction of Nutri-Score in each country. Nutri-Score uses an algorithm to calculate a food product’s score. The scientific committee is investigating if changes to this algorithm can help match the score to the countries’ dietary guidelines. And if so, how. RIVM is working on a literature review and making calculations, so it can offer advice. RIVM is also taking part in working groups and answers the involved parties’ questions about the subject matter and technical aspects on behalf of the international technical committee.
Study: how to match Nutri-Score to the Wheel of Five
In the run-up to the introduction of a new food choice logo, RIVM worked with the Netherlands Nutrition Centre in 2019 on a study in which three European food choice logos were compared with the Dutch guidelines the Wheel of Five. The three logos were the Scandinavian Keyhole, the British Multiple Traffic Light and the French Nutri-Score. All of these logos were able to help people rank food products based on how healthy they are. Nutri-Score was found to do this slightly better than Multiple Traffic Light. Based on the results of this study, the State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport has decided that Nutri-Score is the food choice logo we should use in the Netherlands.
In 2021, RIVM did a study to ascertain the match between Nutri-Score and the Dutch dietary guidelines. This study revealed that Nutri-Score is not yet a good match for all the food product groups in the Dutch guidelines (for example, cake and pastries, bread and cereal products, milk and dairy beverages, cheese and processed meats). Given this fact, RIVM advised that the Nutri-Score algorithm needed to be updated.
The updated Nutri-Score algorithm
Because Nutri-Score was originally developed for France, it was not a sufficient match with the dietary guidelines applicable in various European countries. Therefore, the scientific committee launched a study to identify how to improve the algorithm’s match with the various dietary guidelines. The algorithm for solid foods was updated in 2022, followed by the algorithm for beverages in March 2023. The steering group adopted the new algorithms and the Health Council of the Netherlands published an advisory report about them. The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport then decided to introduce Nutri-Score in the Netherlands on 1 January 2024 based on the study by the scientific committee and the advisory report of the Health Council of the Netherlands.
Nutri-Score as a motivator for product improvement
Food choice logos like Nutri-Score can also motivate companies to improve their products. RIVM investigated this in 2021. Lowering the amounts of sugar and salt or raising the amounts of positive ingredients (like the percentage of vegetables in a meal) will improve the Nutri-Score of a product. The company can then sell the product (for example a meal with more vegetables and less salt) as a better choice compared to products that have not been improved. A better Nutri-Score can motivate consumers to choose a particular product.
NAPV product criteria and Nutri-Score
In early 2022, RIVM published ceiling limits as part of the National Approach to Product Improvement (NAPV). The limits help producers to lower the amounts of salt, saturated fat and sugar in food products, one step at a time. In July 2023, the ceiling limits were, where possible, brought in line with the (new) Nutri-Score cut-off points.
Monitoring Nutri-Score
RIVM will monitor the use of Nutri-Score. The distribution of scores A-E and changes in the composition of food products will be monitored as well. Data from the Food Database (Levensmiddelendatabank) will be used for this purpose.
More information (in Dutch and English)
- Information about the food choice logo Nutri-Score on the website of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS)
- Nutri-Score 2023 update
- Evaluation of the Nutri-Score algorithm of the Dutch Health Council (English report)
- Evaluation of Nutri-Score in relation to dietary guidelines and food reformulation in the Netherlands
- Information about the Wheel of Five in this flyer of the Netherlands Nutrition Centre.
- Nutri-Score voor bedrijven (how to use and apply)
- Rekentool voor het berekenen van de Nutri-Score
- Voedselkeuzelogo's onder de Loep
- National Prevention Agreement