The Ministry of Health Regulatory Committee for Promotion of Healthy Nutrition in Israel today published an initial draft with recommendations for marking food products. According to the recommendations, food manufacturers will be obligated to mark food products containing large amounts of sugar, salt, or fat with a red warning. The recommendations are to be implemented in three stages, each of which will further extend the level of ingredients requiring a warning. The first stage is scheduled to become effective in January 2018, the second stage in July 2019, and the final stage in December 2020.
The main recommendations are a mandatory red mark for food ingredients (saturated fat, sodium, and sugar) specified by the Regulatory Committee, which are taken from legislation passed in Chile. The Regulatory Committee is also recommending a green mark. A professional committee appointed by the Ministry of Health Director of Public Health Services will recommend the requirements for this mark to the Minister of Health.
Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman said, "Marking food products will enable the public to obtain important information about the food values served to it in the products we buy. The public's involvement in the process is important in creating a healthier environment, and we are determined to change everyone's health for the better. I congratulate the manufacturers and all the concerns who are partners with us in the national process we have declared for preventing bad health and changing the public's nutritional habits."
The Food and Beverages Sector of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce strongly opposes the proposal, arguing that it is likely to increase the prices of marked products by 40-50%. "The mark on the front of the package is unacceptable to all of the major trading blocs. It will impossible to product, import, or display products marked with the obligatory marking," says Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce Food and Beverages Sector Director Yaffa Hovav. "Production has control over the packaging, but the importer has no control over the manufacturer's packaging. Israel is a small market, and no one will do these adjustments for it."
The food sector is proposing that there be no mark on the front of the package. "The compromise for us is to stick the marks on the back of the package, so that most of the damage to free trade is avoided, and the price increase will be less, because the marketing will be in the framework of the labels that are put on the products in any case. This proposed solution is also consistent with that of the large trading blocs."
In addition, the Chambers of Commerce say that the plan runs counter to the government's guidelines for reducing regulation. Last Thursday, the Minister of Economy and Industry spoke against the plan in his meeting with the Chambers of Commerce, and said he would take action to change it.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on April 4, 2017
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