Peru’s front-of-pack warning labels drive food industry reformulation

Peru’s mandatory front-of-package (FOP) warning labels are reshaping the packaged food industry, pushing manufacturers to reformulate products with lower levels of sugar, sodium, and saturated fat, according to research. 

The findings are detailed in a new peer-reviewed pre- and post-operational study by the US-based University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Global Food Research Program (GFRP).

This evidence supports the effectiveness of mandatory nutrition labeling policies aimed at driving food manufacturers to reformulate products by reducing their levels of salt, sugar, and fats.

“By following products over time, we found that these changes reflected product reformulation rather than simply new products replacing old ones,” says lead author and doctoral student Jonathan Lara-Arevalo. 

“That gives us greater confidence that the policy encourages manufacturers to improve the nutrient profile of existing products.”

Black warning labels

In June 2019, Peru enforced phase one of its FOP warning label policy, which requires all commercial packaged foods and beverages to display prominent black warning labels on the front of packages if they exceed specific thresholds for total sugars, sodium, saturated fats, or contain trans fats.

While intended to guide consumers through choosing healthier purchases, they were also intended to drive manufacturers to reformulate healthier products in avoidance of these warning labels.

To assess the policy’s efficacy, researchers examined nutrition information from packaged food and beverage products sold in Peruvian supermarkets before and after the policy came into effect.

The scientists looked at products that exceeded the policy’s limits and tallied their changes in the amounts of sugars, sodium, and saturated fat across the food supply. In total, 3,805 products were evaluated for the study.

The study findings support the effectiveness of mandatory nutrition labeling policies aimed at driving food manufacturers to reformulate products.

After the first phase of the policy was enforced, the study found that the proportion of foods carrying at least one warning label declined from 61% to 55%.

Meanwhile, beverages carrying at least one warning label declined from 31% to 19%. Products high in sugar decreased by 10% among foods and 37% among beverages. 

In addition, foods high in sodium decreased by 16% while foods high in saturated fats decreased by 7%.

“Food companies respond to strong policies,” underscores the study’s senior author Lindsey Smith Taillie, GFRP co-director and professor and associate chair of Academics for the Department of Nutrition at Gillings School of Global Public Health, US.

“When manufacturers reformulate products and reduce nutrients of concern to avoid warning labels, the result is a healthier food supply for everyone — not just the people who read nutrition labels.”

Efforts leading up to the policy

Peru adopted two earlier measures that targeted concerning levels of sugars and fats. The first was a 2016 mandate to progressively eliminate trans fats, and the second was the 2018 increase in taxes on high-sugar beverages from 17% to 25%, with respect to front-of-package warning label sugar thresholds.

Peru’s front-of-package warning labels system also mandates brands to display their warning labels across all advertising platforms — including television, social media, and radio broadcasting.

In 2019, the nation’s Ministry of Health released guidelines that banned products with front-of-package warning labels from being sold at school shops and cafeterias, which further reinforced nationwide reformulations.

The authors conclude that even modest reformulations of products that require warning labels could translate into meaningful population health benefits when enforced on a national scale. Their evidence is consistent with studies evaluating the efficacy of similar policies in other countries, such as Chile and Mexico.

“The combination of these consecutive regulatory actions positions Peru as a distinct case for evaluating industry responses to public health policies in a middle-income setting undergoing rapid dietary transitions,” write the study authors.

Policy-driven reformulations in Peru mirror similar global developments, such as in the US, where senators recently introduced the latest version of a long-running food labeling reform proposal for the Food Labeling Modernization Act, which aims to standardize front-of-pack labels and push for clearer ingredient disclosures.

In the UK, the expansion of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy in November last year — to include milk and plant-based drinks, and RTD coffees — has driven reformulations of healthier sugar-reduced beverages to counter the “sugar tax.”