Yuka and the Italian Antitrust Authority’s verdict on the unreliability of Nutriscore system: action by the Commission

Priority question for written answer  P-002932/2022
to the Commission
Rule 138
Mara Bizzotto (ID)

Yuka, an app used by millions of Italians to check the nutritional values of food products sold in supermarkets, bases its ratings on the Nutriscore traffic-light labelling system.

The General Confederation of Italian Agriculture and the Italian consumer association Codici raised their concerns about the usefulness of Yuka to the Italian Competition Authority as the Nutriscore-based ratings do not accurately reflect how healthy products are, as they take no account of overall diet and lifestyle.

On 12 July 2022, under Decision No 30237, the Italian Antitrust Authority ruled that Yuka would only be allowed to continue its activity if it undertakes to fulfil a number of commitments to ensure better transparency for its users. It must, in particular, provide details on the arbitrary way in which food products are classified using the Nutriscore system.

In view of the Commission's upcoming legislative proposal on the compulsory alignment of front-of-pack labelling schemes and of the Italian Antitrust Authority's verdict that the Nutriscore system is unreliable as a means of assessing the healthiness of foodstuffs, can the Commission say whether it will replace the Nutriscore system with the alternative NutrInform Battery system, which aims to provide consumers with accurate and clear information, indicating the amount of energy, fat, sugar and salt per individual portion in relation to actual daily reference intakes?