The Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection (Idec) filed a public civil action (ACP) in the Federal Court of São Paulo against the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) questioning the extension of the deadline for adapting the labeling of foods and beverages with the magnifying glass seal indicating high amounts of sodium, added sugar and saturated fat.
The ACP seeks to suspend the effects of Resolution of the Collegiate Board (RDC) No. 819/2023, from Anvisa, which allowed the use of packaging and labels already purchased for foods and beverages with excess critical nutrients without the magnifying glass seal and without the new nutritional information table, for stocks to be exhausted by October 2024.
“In Idec’s view, Anvisa’s decision was motivated by biased information from the industry itself, devoid of any scientific evidence free from conflicts of commercial interests. It was the result of interference from that part of the processed food and ultra-processed products sector that failed to organize itself within the thousand days they had to adapt to the new nutritional labeling rules to the detriment of the public interest”, the institute said in a note.
To the Court, Idec requests an injunction so that companies benefiting from the DRC in question are forced to use stickers on the packaging of their products, adapting them to the front seal of the magnifying glass and the new nutritional information table.
The preliminary measure also requests a court order so that Anvisa does not authorize new failures to comply with deadlines for adapting the labeling of food and beverages.
“With this legal action, Idec seeks to prevent Anvisa’s board of directors from adopting decisions biased by the interests of the industry, which harm regulatory effectiveness and the changes in consumer behavior expected by public health policy. The institute also requires that the agency be obliged to base its regulatory and public policy decisions on food labeling on evidence that concretely prioritizes public health and the National Food and Nutrition Policy”, highlighted the note.
Agência Brasil contacted Anvisa and is awaiting a position on the public civil action. At the time of publication of RDC nº 819/2023, the agency informed that the objective was to allow the stock of packaging and labels acquired by companies to be exhausted by October 8 of this year. The materials could be used until October 9, 2024.
“The agency’s decision considered, above all, the impacts of the pandemic on the food sector, including imbalances in the logistics supply chain, as well as the variation in the purchasing power of Brazilians and the consequent impact on the consumption of products”, highlighted Anvisa , in a statement.
“It is important to emphasize that RDC 819/2023 allows only the existing stock of packaging purchased until October 8th to be used. Any and all packaging purchases made from October 9th of this year must comply with the provisions of RDC 429/2020 and Normative Instruction (IN) 75/2020”, added the agency.
Understand
RDC 429/2020 and IN 75/2020 on nutritional labeling came into force on October 9, 2022, according to Anvisa, with the aim of facilitating the understanding of nutritional information present on food labels, in order to provide greater clarity and help consumers make more conscious food choices.
Issues were changed regarding readability, the content and form of the declaration, the nutritional information table and the conditions of use of nutritional claims. Furthermore, there was an innovation in the adoption of front nutritional labeling.
According to the new rule, packaged drinks and foods must bear the magnifying glass symbol on the front of the packaging, along with the “HIGH IN” seal, indicating high amounts of added sugar, saturated fat and sodium.
In October last year, the deadline for adapting most food products (packaged in the absence of consumers) to the new labeling rules ended. This deadline applied to foods that were already on the market on the date the rule came into force. With the publication of RDC 819/2023, products whose packaging had been purchased by October 8th could continue to circulate without adjustments until October 9th, 2024.
