Nutri-Score: formally still in conflict with the law, but no recommendation
Nutri-Score is a voluntary food choice logo that helps consumers to make healthier choices when purchasing within a product group. Nutri-Score has not yet been officially introduced in the Netherlands; this is expected to happen in 2022. Nutri-Score can already be found on store shelves as part of pilots and because it is already in use abroad.
Albert Heijn has also started a pilot to investigate how consumers experience Nutri-Score and what the effects are on their purchasing behavior. Albert Heijn shares these experiences with the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
A complaint about the use of Nutri-Score by Albert Heijn was submitted to the Advertising Code Committee (ACC). The chairman ruled that Nutri-Score is still a prohibited nutrition claim because it has not yet been included in national legislation. But Albert Heijn has shown that the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport deliberately condones the use of Nutri-Score by Albert Heijn in order to gain experience in the practical field.
The Chairman concludes that Albert Heijn - and all other sellers who use Nutri-Score as part of a pilot - are therefore not held accountable for cooperating in a pilot that in itself still violates advertising rules. The President exercised restraint and considered that it is not for the President to interfere with a practice authorized by the government. The President therefore makes no recommendation and leaves the compliance process.
By not making a recommendation, the Chairman avoids an undesirable contradiction. Because pilots with Nutri-Score are permitted. If the Chairman had made a recommendation, it would have been impossible for Albert Heijn to carry out a pilot project that it is now applying with the knowledge of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. The expectation is that Nutri-Score will be definitively introduced at the end of this year. The legislation is already in place.
Ebba Hoogenraad and Myrna Teeuw advised Albert Heijn on this matter.