OECD Reviews of Public Health: Chile by OECD

Author:OECD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: socialissues
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Published: 2019-01-11T00:00:00+00:00

Box 2.1. The role of civil society in monitoring food labels

In response to the new food labelling laws introduced in 2016, Chile’s national consumer organisation, Conadecus, announced the launch of the Observatory for Food and Advertising. This observatory will regularly review food labels, ingredients and nutritional composition of food products, and advertising practices, to assess whether or not they comply with national regulations. Their aim is to improve transparency for the customers, and increase compliance by providing recommendations to the Ministry of Health.

The involvement of public interest watchdogs in enforcing labelling standards has been instrumental in other countries. In Denmark, independent consumer rights organisation Taenk has taken on a similar role. After discussions with producers did not result in any changes, Taenk brought complaints on 26 products and their labels to the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration. Foodwatch in the Netherlands, an organisation independent of the government and food companies, organises an annual competition where 24 000 consumers vote for the most misleading health claim on a food product. Presented in an entertaining and amusing way, the aim of this campaign is to make consumers more critical of health claims and food labels.

In addition to consumers, other civil society groups can also be involved. For example, a greater involvement could be envisaged for patients associations, medical societies and other relevant groups of stakeholders depending on the matter under discussion. However, civil society in Chile tends to be arranged in small organisations, which limits their ability to influence and support public health objectives.

Source: (Foodwatch, 2016[36]; Conadecus, 2017[37]; Taenk, 2017[38]).

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