Chile Law Will Require Warning Statements on Foods High in Fat, Sugar, Salt

Chile’s draft law on nutritional composition and advertising, approved in May, will be the first in the world to set warning statements on foods high in fat, sugar, and salt, said regulatory consultant EAS (Brussels).

Once it becomes official law, the regulation will require mandatory warning statements on labels that a food is “high in fat, “high in sugar,” or “high in salt,” said EAS regulatory affairs manager Ainhoa Larrañaga.

Moreover, Larrañaga added, the legislation also expands what must be listed on nutrition labels. This list now includes saturated fats and sugars, energy, protein, carbohydrate, and sodium content.

EAS said that the next step is discussing nutrient profiles-identifying a food’s nutrient contents-which Chile’s Ministry of Health is now doing to determine which nutrient thresholds will be used to define foods high in fat, sugar, and salt. EAS says those decisions could come this month.

“Although worldwide some countries such as Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, or countries of the European Union are applying new rules on nutrition labeling, be they voluntary or mandatory, Chile will be the first in the region and the world to make warning statements on food labels mandatory,” Larrañaga said. “Already in Peru, a draft law which will make warning statements on HFSS [high fat, sugar, salt] foods mandatory is being discussed. So it will be interesting therefore to see the impact of this law in Chile when implemented and across the Latin American region.”