Let's go for the traffic light logo in the Netherlands!

An opinion piece by Najda Kajdic, consultant with Précon Consulting Group

Green for the traffic light logo

The Consumentenbond's April 2019 consumer survey on food choice logos found that the traffic light logo scored best among Dutch consumers. 68% of consumers are very positive about the traffic light logo and 51% would prefer to see the traffic light logo on packaging. My preference is also for the traffic light logo. When choosing a new food choice logo, the most important thing is that consumers should be able to easily make a healthy choice when shopping. It seems less important whether the product compares well. What matters is that the consumer makes the best choice. If a consumer sees that a product is high in sugar or fat, the consumer can easily choose not to buy the product. If a consumer buys only A or B products based on the Nutri-Score, it does not immediately mean that this consumer is very healthy.

Next, by introducing a new food choice logo, it is important to teach consumers how to read a label. The traffic light logo promotes this because consumers already have to look at nutritional values in the product. Many stakeholders advocate for a simple logo, but I fear that a simple logo could also cause confusion and, as a result, will have the same effect as the checkmark did back then. After all, consumers do not know what the letters A through E are based on or what it means when a Keyhole logo is placed on the package. This was also the case with the checkmark; there was a lack of clarity about the differences between the blue and green checkmarks. This experience should ensure that in a few years the new food choice logo will not be abolished again.

From the stakeholder report of October 16, 2019, many companies indicated a preference for the Nutri-Score. However, almost all of these companies set the condition that the Nutri-Score must then fit within the five-slice scale or that the algorithm behind the Nutri-Score must be adjusted. It does not seem to me that the algorithm should be adjusted so that the Nutri-Score will be different for each country and it will then fit better within the five-slice bracket for the Netherlands. In addition, many stakeholders set the condition that the new logo should apply to all of Europe. This is also difficult because the use of sugar and salt is regulated differently in each country and each country has specific products that have a certain recipe. I therefore also believe that not too much value should be placed on this preference for the Nutri-Score. It seems to me that these conditions are much easier to solve if the traffic light logo is introduced. There is no algorithm behind this that would have to be adjusted. The problem with specific products also does not play a role here. After all, no logo is used to indicate how healthy the product is, but the supplier can see that a particular product contains more salt, for example. It is notable, however, that the report shows that dieticians in particular prefer the traffic light logo. Coca Cola and PepsiCo also prefer the traffic light logo to create better consumer awareness.

How was it again?

The prevention agreement in place in the Netherlands is intended to ensure that foods become healthier. The introduction of a new food choice logo is one of the points mentioned in the prevention agreement. State Secretary of Health Paul Blokhuis has until the end of this year to choose which food choice logo will apply in the Netherlands. There are three contenders: Nutri-Score from France, the British Evolved Nutrition Label, henceforth stoplight logo, and the Keyhole logo from Scandinavia. To make a good choice, the secretary of state is in talks with the Nutrition Center, RIVM, the Consumers' Association and several manufacturers, among others. Several consumer surveys are also underway, so that ultimately the right decision can be made that works best for consumers.

By the looks of it now, the biggest contender is the Nutri-Score. By giving a score to a product from A to E, in which A is considered the most healthy and E the least healthy, consumers can make an informed choice about which product to put in their shopping cart. No logo is perfect and so there are some pros and cons to each one. The three different contenders and their pros and cons are detailed below.

The three contenders

Nutri-Score

The Nutri-Score gives a product a score from A to E. There is an algorithm behind it that was developed in France. It determines what score the product gets. A product gets points if it is high in vegetables, fruits or fiber, and it gets minus points if it is high in sugar or salt.

Traffic light logo

The traffic light logo repeats the nutritional values for energy, fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt on the front of the label. Thereby, the color red indicates that there is too much fat, sugar or salt in the product. The color orange indicates average amounts in the product and the color green indicates that the amount of fat, sugar or salt in the product is good.

Key-hole logo

The third and final contender is the Key-hole logo, which most closely resembles the former checkmark system we had in the Netherlands. A product gets a Keyhole logo if the product is a healthier choice within a product group.

Pros and cons

As with many choices that have to be made, it can happen that no choice is ideal. So it seems to be for making a choice for a new food logo in the Netherlands. Each logo has advantages and disadvantages.

To start with the Nutri-Score, its biggest advantage is that it shows at a glance whether a product is healthy or not. It is independent and easy to compare. Moreover, it creates a clear ranking of products within the same product group. According to Foodwatch, the Nutri-Score unmasks misleading claims. For example, a product may contain certain legally permitted claims, such as "whole grain," which appears to make the product healthier . Because of a lower Nutri-Score, these products can still come out as unhealthy. The big disadvantage of the Nutri-Score is the "crazy" results when you start comparing products. For example, it turns out that Diet Coca-Cola is healthier than olive oil and a rice cake is just as unhealthy as a Mars. Also, all types of cheese get a very low score. This could be confusing. In addition, the Nutri-Score is not based on the final product. As a result, frozen fries get an A, but of course after they are baked it is no longer an A. Finally, the Nutri-Score does not give consumers all the information they want because it is based only on a letter.

The traffic light logo, on the other hand, contains more information and discourages consumers from making an unhealthy choice based on fat, sugar or salt. The major disadvantage of the traffic light logo is that it would not be easy to compare and there would be too much information on the front of the package.

The Keyhole logo is simple and its green color indicates at a glance when the product is a healthy choice. The downside is also immediately that it is too simple and therefore difficult for consumers to understand. It is very close to the old checkmark system, which has already been abolished because it was too confusing for consumers.

Briefly. State Secretary Blokhuis has until the end of this year to decide which food choice logo will be introduced in the Netherlands. There are three major contenders: the Nutri-Score, the traffic light logo or the Keyhole logo. There are pros and cons to all logos. For example, the Nutri-Score shows at a glance whether the product is healthy or not, but the score does not correspond to the five-slice scale and sometimes leads to "crazy" results. The traffic light logo contains more information about nutritional values, but products are harder to compare with each other, and the Keyhole logo is simple, but can be confusing as a result. Considering all the pros and cons, I think the traffic light logo is the best choice. The consumer survey also showed that consumers prefer this. In addition, consumers are taught to read a label and it fits better into the five-slice scale. We will all have to wait a few more weeks to see where State Secretary Blokhuis' choice fell.