The European Commission has reportedly abandoned its years-long attempts to set up the mandatory Nutri-Score across 27 member states, it has been reported.
The body had long been considering adopting Nutri-Score as the mandatory front-of-pack nutrition label for the European Union. Nutri-Score is a colour-coded system that rates food products based on their nutritional value.
The Italian Government had opposed the system primarily because it believed such labelling unfairly discriminated against traditional Italian foods, threatening their cultural and economic value.
It argued that Nutri-score oversimplified nutrition by penalising products high in fat, sugar, or salt — such as olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and prosciutto — without considering their health benefits or role in a balanced diet such as Mediterranean one.
Italy championed its own alternative, the Nutrinform Battery, which would show nutritional content as a percentage of daily intake without grading, arguing it better informed consumers without vilifying specific foods.
Reacting to the news, Italian Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida said: “If what is reported by some press outlets is confirmed, it will be an important victory for Italy, a victory for the [Prime Minister Georgia] Meloni government, which has always fought for our excellence against the misleading indications of the Nutri-score.
NGO Foodwatch on February 28 told Radio France‘s investigative unit that the EC’s Director-General for Agriculture, Wolfgang Burtscher, was set to meet with representatives of the German food retail industry in the near future.
In an internal preparatory note they reviewed, the commission outlined several “key messages,” emphasising that it did not intend simply to replicate any existing system.
“We understand that an evaluation system (similar to Nutri-Score) is easy for consumers to understand. DG AGRI [Directorate-General for Agriculture] has no objection to this,” the note reportedly read.
“It was too politically sensitive to propose the Nutri-Score. It would have been too hard to swallow for the Italians,” Suzy Sumner, the head of Foodwatch’s Brussels office, told Radio France.
During the midday press briefing on February 28, spokespeople from the commission remained tight-lipped.
They said they did not wish to make “any comment on leaked documents” and that reaching a “common solution” on the matter remained a challenge.
One EC spokesperson told Brussels Signal: “The Commission is committed to provide transparent information and respect the right of the citizens to make informed choices.
“Our extensive work on food labelling — including scientific studies, public consultations, and targeted surveys — has confirmed the complexity of this issue and highlighted the challenges of reaching common solutions.”
The spokesperson added that the commission would keep working with member states and stakeholders to discuss issues including non-communicable diseases, food reformulation, ultra-processed products and the impact of some food marketing on vulnerable consumers.
“Efforts should focus on minimising related burdens while ensuring informed food choices for citizens and promoting balanced, pragmatic solutions for businesses,” the spokesperson said.
Lollobrigida said: “Since we took office, we have maintained that a labelling system cannot penalise quality products with misleading evaluations and condition the market but inform. The European Commission finally seems to recognise our arguments: We will continue to work to ensure clear and transparent information to citizens without damaging the excellence of Made in Italy’.
Michele Picaro, MEP for Meloni’s Brothers of Italy Party told French media: “Our success against the Nutri-Score was achieved thanks to a close collaboration between different European parliamentarians who share our concerns.”
“It’s an important victory but we remain vigilant. We are monitoring what is happening in Brussels and will always be ready to act to protect our food.”
The creator of the system, Professor Serge Hercberg, reacted with outrage to Radio France.
“It’s totally hypocritical and absurd. On the one hand, the commission recognises the interest of the science-based Nutri-Score but on the other, it gives in to pressure from lobbies,” he said.
The Nutri-Score is already in use in five countries: Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland.
It is popular with certain governments and NGOs but has faced criticism from citizens for being difficult to understand clearly.
The Nutri-Score evaluates foods based on a points system, balancing “negative” components – energy, saturated fats, sugars, sodium – against “positive” ones – fibre, protein, fruits/vegetables/nuts/legumes.
Based on this, it assigns letters from A to E, using a colour-coded scale to indicate healthier choices.
Despite the intentions, healthy and nutrient-rich foods such as nuts, salmon, and avocado scored poorly, receiving a C or D. That was because they are high in calories and fats, even though those fats are mostly unsaturated and beneficial, while their fibre and protein do not fully offset that under Nutri-Score’s formula.
On the other side, some frozen fries, for example, scored a B because, per 100g, they are lower in saturated fat – if baked, not fried – and sodium than processed salmon, even though they are less nutrient-dense overall.
Potato chips can hit B if they are low-salt, since the algorithm does not penalise so-called “empty” carbs heavily.
Ice cream, especially lighter versions such as sorbet or low-fat, could rate an A or B if the sugar content is moderate (under 10g/100g) and saturated fat low, thus outweighing its lack of fibre or protein.
The system also ignores typical serving sizes, meaning it does not distinguish between eating 100 grams of avocados versus eating 100 grams of potato chips.
Critics said the Nutri-Score was a blunt method based on such scores and did not inform but in fact confused consumers
real butter from grass-fed cows has the worst possible Nutri-Score (E) and this should tell you what a worthless propaganda machine that rating system is pic.twitter.com/89MNA7A9bU
— hermit the cat (@hermittoday) February 5, 2025
In 2020, the EC looked into a harmonised and mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling logo as part of its Green Deal plans and had identified the Nutri-Score.
Sumner demanded the commission reveal its documents regarding how and why it decided to drop the Nutri-Score.
She pointed out that the previous Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, already reprimanded the body for not granting public access to the documents, saying it constituted “maladministration”.
Triste de voir l’Europe, devant la pression de certains groupes alimentaires (notamment italiens), renoncer à rendre le #NutriScore obligatoire ! pic.twitter.com/8zslAfREVn
— Cyrille IsaacSibille (@CIsaacSibille) March 3, 2025
