The bill on Frontal Food Labeling was finally approved in the Chamber of Deputies. The current regulation aims to warn on food packaging excesses of components that can be harmful to health such as sugars, sodium and saturated fats, among others. In this way, they estimate that the population will know details of some components and will allow them to make informed purchases to take care of their health.
In this context, it is necessary to remember that the main cause of deaths in Argentina are chronic non-communicable diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, and chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
In line with this, there are risk factors that make these diseases worsen and develop more pronouncedly, among which is diet, which is closely linked to behavior and therefore it is possible to improve.
Once approved, it is optimal to begin to understand what one eats. Here is a guide to the names of the main ingredients that products on the market usually contain, why they add them, and why many of them can harm your health.
Label Guide
Other points to take into account of the law
Those dedicated to nutrition, among other experts, stressed the importance of regulating the way in which products are advertised and sponsored, the prohibition of including children's characters to sell to children, and the possibility of participation in contests, games or events.
In turn, any drink or food with at least one seal (that is, indicating excess sodium, sugar, total and saturated fat, and calories) and that is aimed at children and adolescents, will not be able to be advertised. At the same time, it postulates the generation of healthy environments (for example, that they do not enter schools or kiosks within schools, products with an excess of critical ingredients, among other interesting proposals.
One of the best-known points is the placement of black labels in the shape of octagons on the front of the containers, which in white letters warn about excess sugar, sodium, fat or calories per 100 grams.
The importance of this happening is that although today the ingredients are there, they appear in a size that is almost impossible to read, and in unintelligible terminology.
