“He ends up with the same note as a soda light which is an ultra-transformed product”.
A new calculation of the Nutri-Score was validated by the government on March 14, 2025 “Given public health issues, including overweight and obesity”. As a reminder, one in two French people is in a situation of overweight or obesity today. The display will be even more severe with regard to certain products. Good news for the consumer? Not necessarily …
The new Nutri-Score algorithm provides for more precise differentiation between complete fiber foods and their refined alternatives, a refined classification of fatty fish (omega 3 sources) and oils less rich in saturated fatty acids, details on the evaluation of drinks according to their sugars and the presence of sweeteners and a better distinction of foods according to salt and sugar content. Sugar has clearly become the number 1 enemy for health authorities. The French consume too much and their health flicker. But a distinction is essential, reminds us of an expert, “Between natural sugars and added sugars” products.
This expert is Gaëtan Vergnes, secretary general of the BIP, the national interprofessional prune office. This dry fruit has many indisputable health benefits for all nutrition professionals. However, with the new Nutri-Score validated by the government, it goes from letter to (the best note) to letter C. “We alerted the Ministry of Agriculture, we all gave a lot of arguments but we were not heard” regrets this representative of prune producers and transformers. “What deteriorates the rating of prune is the sugar content but it is a dried fruit so necessarily when you remove water, we concentrate sugars. We also concentrate vitamins and minerals, good things that Nutriscore does not take into account.” And then the sugars of dried prune are natural, they are those of the fruit, they are not added. “The plum is picked, we put it in the oven and that’s all we do, we don’t add anything.”
The argument “The most absurd” For this specialist “It is that prune is found with the same note as a soda light which is an ultra-transformed product”. Industrialists have two years to comply with the new Nutri-Score: “Each operator will have to choose between leaving Nutri-Score or changing their packaging. In both cases, this will have a cost for businesses.” As for consumers, “We are losing them, they may no longer find their way with a Nutri-Score which does not completely reflect the nutritional quality of the product”.
