Public governance tools to promote healthy eating habits, including taxes, subsidies and legislation, but also spatial planning and infrastructure, labelling and reformulation.
European Commission to propose a mandatory, single European colour labelling system, with colours applied on the basis of 100 g units on the front of food packaging throughout the EU, providing consumers with clear information on sugar, salt and fat content, encouraging healthier eating patterns.
Specific standards to be introduced for products bearing nutritional and health claims on their labels regarding their sugar, salt and fat content.
Local authorities to use food public procurement to prioritise healthy, local, seasonal and sustainable foodstuffs in order to promote healthy diets and the development of the local economy.
The proposal for a colour-coded, front-pack nutritional labelling is in the spotlight in many Member States. Also, the new Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides mentioned the issue at the occasion of her hearing in the European Parliament.
On 9 October 2019, the CoR NAT commission, ICLEI and Organic cities organised a workshop on How School Meals Can Drive Local and Regional Change, discussing issues such as how can sustainable food procurement be linked with strategic policies or climate change actions and how can public procurement issues related to purchasing "local & regional food" be overcome.
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- considers it necessary to use public governance tools to promote heathy eating habits. These tools should be understood in the broad sense – they may include taxes, subsidies and legislation, but also spatial planning and infrastructure, labelling and reformulation;
- calls on the European Commission to propose, after examining existing food labelling systems, a mandatory, single European colour labelling system, in which colours would be applied on a basis of 100 g units, on the front of food packaging throughout the EU, providing consumers with clear information on the sugar, salt and fat content, encouraging healthier eating patterns. The CoR proposes that the nutritional labelling also be available online, in keeping with modern technological requirements;
- calls for specific standards to be introduced for products bearing nutritional and health claims on their labels regarding their sugar, salt and fat content. These specifications should be a pre-requisite for any product to be able to make such a claim;
- points out to local authorities that they should prioritise, through public procurement in the food sector for all public bodies (including hospitals, nursing homes, retirement homes, kindergartens, schools, prisons and their canteens), to serve as role models by selling and providing healthy, local and seasonal foodstuffs that ensure sustainability and to make their contribution to Goal 12.7 – sustainable public procurement – of the 2030 Agenda. To achieve this goal, recommends favouring local producers in public procurement procedures in order to promote healthy diets and the development of the local economy;