The sanctification of the Nutri-Score organized by the Belgian Presidency for today is nothing more than the non-admission of a political failure on the part of the bureaucracies of some countries, such as Belgium and France, which usually impose ethical behavior on citizens, according to the old Hegelian scheme; and of a handful of scientists, mainly French, for whom the results of their scientific research are an absolute truth to be imposed without ever subjecting it to critical comparison as it should be according to the experimental method of science.
On the other hand, the Nutri-Score is a scientific, philosophical and political aberration. Those who promote the Nutri-Score attribute the responsibility for obesity to certain nutrients, which are essential for our diet if consumed in a balanced way. The causes of obesity are multiple and very complex, and cannot be solved with a traffic light on the label.
In fact, obesity does not go down in countries that adopt the Nutri-Score, but goes up. In France it is on 75% of packaged products. It will be said that it is not enough to reach 100%. Then it will be put on restaurant menus, in advertising, etc., effectively imposing a totalitarian diet.
In fact, those who promote the Nutri-Score believe the consumer is incapable of choosing. Instead of providing him – education – with the tools to make informed and therefore free choices, it “suggests” what is good or what is bad according to the French algorithm. But there are no good or bad foods, it is the dose that does good or bad depending on each individual. Each individual is – this is the richness of Europe and of humanity, he is different, so “one size fits all” diets like that of the Nutri-Score cannot work, indeed they end up deceiving the consumer citizen. This is the main unintended consequence ignored by those, like the Queen of Belgium, who promote the Nutri-Score: threatening freedom of choice, inhibiting knowledge, denying diversity. Who knows if it is an unintended consequence, or it clearly reflects the well-rooted idea that the State chooses for citizens in the name of common health.
In annihilating diversity, the Nutri-Score favors those multinationals that, without a culinary tradition, promote global products, legitimately pursuing an economy of scale.
In fact, large international groups support these labeling schemes, because they allow them to manipulate food formulas to obtain “healthy” food (which the consumer knows nothing about).
Local traditions, such as the Mediterranean Diet, or traditional local companies, which make products that are difficult to reformulate, end up among the bad guys. Either they modify their recipes, if they can, distorting tradition, flavors and consistency, or they risk no longer selling. This is a consequence that European policy should take into consideration to avoid food “desertification”. But politics seeks apparently easy choices, which deceive the consumer into eating healthy. Does removing sugars and saturated fats mean eating healthy? And the lifestyle? DNA? Calorie expenditure? Politics prefers not to deal with it. Educating a citizen is dangerous. Better to tell him what to eat. Bad, moreover, continuing to gain weight. If April 25th is Liberation Day for us Italians, for other Europeans, nostalgic for totalitarianism. it is the day of food cultural occupation.
*Adjunct professor of economics at John Cabot University in Rome.
