66 percent of Pinoys want warning label on unhealthy food

The majority of Filipinos support a proposal to put warning labels in front of food packages that are unhealthy or high in sodium, salt and fats to prevent the rising cases of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the country, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

The findings of the survey, released in time for National Nutrition Month this July and commissioned by civil society coalition Healthy Philippines Alliance (HPA), showed that 66 percent of Filipinos favor the implementation of a food warning label policy for prepackaged and ultraprocessed food (UPF) and beverage products.

“The SWS survey demonstrates that adopting a food warning labeling policy can effectively protect consumers against unhealthy food and drinks. More importantly, the Alliance appreciates that the Department of Health (DOH) and the National Nutrition Council have similarly identified front-of-package labeling as a priority policy initiative for the prevention of NCDs and we express full support to move this forward,” said Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan, former DOH chief and HPA convener.

Based on the survey, 62 percent of respondents across all demographics, areas, and socioeconomic and educational status said that food warning labels—or the black octagonal warning labels scheme currently being implemented in Latin America—are the most effective at communicating health risks compared with other labeling schemes, specifically the Nutri-Score, Health Star Rating and Traffic Light.

‘Consumer attitudes’

“There is mounting evidence that food warning labels are a powerful tool to influence consumer attitudes to avoid unhealthy food and to develop a preference for natural and minimally processed foods to protect health. It has encouraged the reformulation of food and beverage products that will lessen the amounts of sugar, sodium and fats. This has helped improve the unbalanced food environment for people, especially children,” Galvez Tan said.

“Other countries have taken action to protect their people from ultraprocessed foods. Unfortunately, the Philippines has lagged behind in this area. So, it is high time that the DOH takes the lead in pushing for food warning labels as a strategy to arrest the rising cases of diet-related NCDs in the country,” he added.

Food warning labels were pioneered by Chile in 2016, with other Latin American countries like Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Uruguay and Venezuela following suit.

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UPF refers to cheap, convenient, easily accessible, ubiquitous and aggressively marketed food products that are also highly palatable and made of low-quality ingredients. By design, these are made with various excessive nutrients, including sugar, saturated fat and sodium, according to the HPA.

Risk factors

An unhealthy diet and improper nutrition due to high consumption of UPF or junk food are risk factors for developing NCDs which have become the leading cause of death in the Philippines. In 2019, cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic kidney disease accounted for 511,000 out of 733,000 deaths.

The Philippines currently implements a mandatory back of pack label on prepackaged food products, including a complete list of ingredients, allergen information and a nutrition facts table in compliance with DOH Administrative Order No. 2014-030.