The impact of the Chilean law on food labelling on the food production sector

Format:

Corporate Author:

Food and Agriculture Organization, Universidad de Chile

Author:

Camila Corvalán

Publisher:

FAO

The worrying increase in overweight and obesity in the Region has led the countries to develop regulations and public policies to overcome this problem. Many of these aim to transform food environments to be healthier, improving access and influencing people's behavior, discouraging the purchase and consumption of unhealthy foods. In Chile, in 2016 a Law on Nutritional Composition of Foods and its advertising was implemented, which mandates the use of warning stamps 'HIGH IN' on foods with high sugar, sodium, saturated fat or energy content, also prohibiting their sale in schools and advertising with a focus on children under 14 years of age. The food industry in Chile played a very active role during the discussion and implementation of the law, having as major concern the impact it could have on the productive sector. At the time of its implementation, it showed good compliance with the use of stamps, also responding with reformulation and development of new products, also adjusting its advertising and marketing campaigns. This document evaluates four aspects of the response of the food production sector in the implementation of the first phase of the Law: attitudes of the main actors of the food sector, food reformulation, use of stamps as a marketing strategy and impact on variables of the manufacturing sector and commercial. This information is an additional input to the discussion of the impact of the labeling laws that are being implemented in countries of the Region