We need clearer food nutrition labels: D66

According to Parliament Member Gerard Schouw, the more than 170 labels currently found in stores are too confusing. The D66 is arguing for a single label in the form of a stop light. "The consumer must see three things at a glance: how does it sit with animal welfare, how healthy is a product and how responsibly is it produced?" says Schouw. Today during the budget meeting, Schouw will demand that State Secretary of Agriculture Dijksma work on the label. "She must bring supermarkets, animal protection and organizations such as LTO Nederland to the table and force them to make agreements over a broadly supported label." If voluntary agreements fail, the industry must be forced by legislation, he says. According to the D66, many labels are used as disguised marketing. "The industry comes up wit a nice little lable with a pig in the meadow and then people think it sustainable meat. But it is often not so." The plea by the D66 is not on its own. Earlier this year the foundation Milieu Centraal with the Consumentenbond already raised the alarm about the number of labels. Both organizations counted 170 labels. In the last year and a half another 90 labels have been added. In many cases the sustainable fish and meat labels are not actually checked to see if the label was rightly granted.