The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) recently put a calculation tool online that allows producers and entrepreneurs to check how their food products score according to the Nutriscore. The tool is intended to provide insight into the composition and health value of products, and the Netherlands is considering making the tool mandatory in due course. While the tool seems useful at first glance, there are important limitations that entrepreneurs in the fresh produce chain should be aware of.
The Nutriscore uses an algorithm that weighs positive attributes of a product (such as fibre, protein or vegetable percentage) against less desirable attributes such as salt, saturated fat and sugars. Based on this balance, a score follows that suggests how well the product fits within a healthy diet.
The score is primarily intended for internal use in product development and reformulation, but may eventually become guiding in legislation, supermarket purchasing or consumer communication. This makes it important for producers to take the methodology seriously now.
A key objection is that Nutriscore is not designed to compare products from different categories. A vegetable spread, fruit juice, dairy drink and ready meal are assessed via the same algorithm, despite fundamentally different functions within a diet.
For policymakers or retailers who do want to use the scores as a comparison tool, this leads to wrong conclusions. A meal replacement with few nutrients and a low portion size may score better than a full meal with naturally occurring sugars and fats - purely because of the technical structure of the scoring system.
The algorithm struggles to recognise ingredients that provide little nutritional value but are high in calories. Think of:
These substances contain virtually no fibre, vitamins or minerals. Yet they hardly affect the final score negatively. They mainly provide energy - empty calories - that the body absorbs quickly but that contribute little to satiety or health. These kinds of ingredients, when used frequently, can unbalance the metabolism.
Metabolism (also known as metabolism) is the set of processes in the body that ensure the burning of nutrients, conversion of energy and maintenance of bodily functions. A stable metabolism is essential for energy levels, weight, hormonal balance and long-term health.
When products are rich in fast sugars and empty calories, but offer little satiety or nutrients, metabolism becomes dysregulated over time. This can lead to fluctuations in blood sugar, insulin resistance and fat storage. However, such risks are not taken into account in the Nutriscore, which means products that are technical scoring, in practice still contribute to excessive energy intake or poor eating habits.
On the other hand, products with naturally occurring sugars, such as lactose in yoghurt or fruit sugars in pureed fruit, are penalised relatively severely by the scoring system. Even if those products are also rich in calcium, fibre or protein, the final score is often negative. This is because the tool does not sufficiently distinguish between added sugars and sugars naturally occurring in unprocessed raw materials.
As a result, a pure smoothie with 100% fruit may score worse than a sweetened drink with artificial sweeteners and flavourings purely on the basis of sugar content - not overall nutritional value.
Within one product group - dairy drinks, meat products or snacks, for example - the tool can be useful. It then shows which compositions score better on salt content, saturated fat or fibre. So for producers who want to improve products within a fixed category, Nutriscore is a useful tool.
It is also wise for companies that are still unfamiliar with Nutriscore to update their product range through the tool - not as an end goal, but as an indication of where potential bottlenecks lie.
The Nutriscore has the potential to make products within their category healthier. But those using the system as an absolute measure of health or nutritional value, comes out deceived. The current version lacks nuance, especially in terms of metabolic effects, natural raw materials and product processing.
So for producers in the fresh produce chain, it is important to understand the system - but also to put it in perspective. If the tool becomes mandatory, it is important to know where the score comes from, and what it does and does not say. Because in the end, it is not the numbers that count, but the health effects on consumers. And these are - so far - only partially reflected by the score. Especially for artisan businesses and producers of fresh, natural or slightly processed products, the Nutriscore is a tool with limitations for now.
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