The Secretary for Access to Health, Sandra Tirado, said Wednesday that as of the recent regulation of the Frontal Labeling Law, from the national government “we are going to make this public policy of promoting healthy eating effective” with “clear information in the products so that people know what they are about to consume.
In statements made from the Casa Rosada to channels 10 in Córdoba, 9 in Chaco and 12 in Misiones, the official estimated that “in the case of large companies, from September the labeling will be or the change in the nutrient profile”.
Tirado praised the new legislation by pointing out that it allows the consumer “to have all the information” on the front labeling of food products, fundamentally about the excess sugar, salt, saturated fat, or total fat so you can choose whether to consume it or not.
In this regard, he said that they have been working for more than six months in the “promotion of healthy nutrition as part of prevention, especially in certain types of diseases such as chronic and non-communicable diseases.”
Tirado specified that Law 27,642, on the Promotion of Healthy Food, “is already in force, it gives those large companies 6 months from regulation and that they are 9 months from the sanction of the law”.
“And here it is important to say that the deadlines are for the nutrient profile to reach the profile that is recommended by the American Health Organizationthen these foods do not have to have octagons and if not, in the event that the nutrient profile is not changed, we will already begin to see these octagons in some of these foods that will serve so that the population has knowledge” he explained.
“This law has to do with processed or ultra-processed products, which have added components, and which are going to be advertised in the octagons.” The Secretary of Access to Health, @SandraMTirado in @tv12misiones. #PointtoPunto #LeyDeEtiquetadoFrontal pic.twitter.com/foXsdwpHPD
— Federal Communication (@ComunicFederal) April 6, 2022
What products will carry warning stamps?
Tirado recalled that yerba mate “is not covered by law” given that the norm “has to do with products that are processed and ultra-processed, which have aggregates of these components. They are the ones who are warned with the octagons.”
“Clearly these natural products are not going to be covered by these labels,” said the official, clarifying that “neither sugar, yerba mate, rice or milk are going to be covered by this, but we are talking about added foods that have a process”.
The official indicated that “what the law seeks is to promote healthy eating through clear information that is easy to distinguish in those packages where we have some type of excess of what are considered nutrients that can do harm, especially to what it does to chronic and non-communicable diseases” such as “excess sugar, salt, fat, saturated fat”.
The norm, he specified, reaches “non-alcoholic beveragesthat is, soft drinks or some juices that have additives, and then those semi-processed or processed foods that have been previously packaged at the moment in which the person is going to acquire the product”.
Regarding warning stamps, he explained that “there are going to be some black octagons, with a white borderwhere it will clearly be specified which ingredient or nutrient is in excess”.
“We are going to have two legends who are going to say whether the product contains sweetener or caffeine and that its use is not recommended or that boys and girls consume it”, he added and remarked that “although the nutritional information was present, now it will be very clear, with a very clear graph and a size on the main face of the product so that people have the information and know what they are consuming”.
Anmat launched a public calculator on Tuesday to find out which foods will have black warning stamps on their packagingwhere consumers can enter the amounts of calories, sugars, fats and sodium according to the nutritional label of the product, and then the system will display the results.
“Although labeling is something important, the law seeks to promote healthy eating”Sandra Tirado, Secretary of Access to Health
“In the prevention of diseases, especially chronic and non-communicable diseases, the habits we have have a lot to do with it, that is, our diet, whether we do physical activity or not, whether we smoke or not,” said the pediatrician and stressed that ” Food is something very important and we know that there are diseases that depend on food and this law, through this regulation, seeks to make information accessible and progress can also be made in that regard”.
The law, he stressed, “has a very important chapter regarding schools, to work with children and adolescents, in having in the curriculum everything that has to do with healthy nutrition and also what products can or cannot be marketed within schools. It is very comprehensive. Therefore, although labeling is important, the law seeks to promote healthy eating.”
Likewise, he recalled that “regarding the that is aimed at children and adolescents It has a chapter that regulates in that sense, so that there are not some things that encourage them to consume these products and it is also regulated”.
With respect to control for compliance with legislationexplained that the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology (Anmat) will be in charge of the control together with other organisms.