European Parliament
João Ferreira  (GUE/NGL ),
in writing.
(PT)
We voted for this resolution opposed to the adoption of the draft Commission regulation, which would amend another regulation on the list of nutrition claims. The proposal of introducing the claim ‘now contains X% less of [nutrient]’ violates the principle of comparative claims, enabling,
inter alia
, the nutritional values of a product to be compared with a previous version of the same product, regardless of the starting level of the nutrient in question. There is also the problem that this type of claim discourages producers from reformulating their products more substantially, as it is easier to reduce a nutrient by 15% than by the amount needed to make a product meet the requirements for the ‘light’ or ‘reduced [nutrient]’ claims. In the end, it was consumers who lost out from this proposal – which Parliament has fortunately rejected – in terms of the clarity, relevance and objectivity of the information provided. The European Commission is now called on to table an amended draft of these measures.

