Nutrition Claims Frequency and Compliance in a Food Sample of the Spanish Market: The BADALI Study
Institute of Bioengineering, Miguel Hernández University, 03202 Elche, Alicante, Spain
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Nutrients 2020, 12(10), 2943; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12102943
Received: 11 August 2020
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Revised: 10 September 2020
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Accepted: 22 September 2020
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Published: 25 September 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Nutrition and Public Health)
Nutrition claims (NCs) have been shown to affect customers’ perceptions and behaviour. In Europe, they are regulated by Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. The aim of this work was to analyse the prevalence and compliance of NCs according to this regulation in Spain. For this purpose, we used the BADALI database, which included 3197 foods present in the Spanish market. Our results show that 36.1% of all foods carried NCs, at a rate of 3.3 NCs/food. The prevalence was very heterogeneous among food groups. Nuts and seeds, legumes and non-alcoholic beverages were the groups with the highest prevalence. Micronutrients, fat, fibre and sugars were the nutrients most referred to in NCs. Overall, the compliance was low, with 49.2% NCs correct. Fibre and proteins were the nutrients with most correct NCs. Vegetables and non-alcoholic beverages were the food groups with the highest proportion of correct NCs. The main reason for incorrect NCs was because the amount of the nutrient was not stated in the label. The results of our study reveal that the aim of the European Commission to ensure a high level of protection for consumers regarding NCs has not been fulfilled. Therefore, we consider it crucial that European institutions invest in guaranteeing regulation compliance.
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Keywords:
nutrition claims; regulation compliance; food labelling; consumer; public health
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MDPI and ACS Style
Ropero, A.B.; Blain, N.; Beltrá, M. Nutrition Claims Frequency and Compliance in a Food Sample of the Spanish Market: The BADALI Study. Nutrients 2020, 12, 2943. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12102943
AMA Style
Ropero AB, Blain N, Beltrá M. Nutrition Claims Frequency and Compliance in a Food Sample of the Spanish Market: The BADALI Study. Nutrients. 2020; 12(10):2943. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12102943
Chicago/Turabian StyleRopero, Ana B., Nuria Blain, and Marta Beltrá. 2020. "Nutrition Claims Frequency and Compliance in a Food Sample of the Spanish Market: The BADALI Study" Nutrients 12, no. 10: 2943. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12102943
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