Yuka and Nutri-Score denounce pressure from agro-industry

She no longer counts. Since the creation of the Yuka application in 2017, Julie Chapon and her teams have accumulated several dozen formal notices from food multinationals. “Each time, it is food or cosmetics manufacturers who are not happy with the rating of their product. They ask us to delete it or review it,” explains the woman who participated in the founding of the application. The method is known: “They try to intimidate us or discredit us. »

Born in France, the company with the carrot logo has become a reference for consumers wishing to scan the nutritional content of their products. In just under ten years, its app has been downloaded more than 85 million times worldwide (including 22 million in France), becoming a reference for those who want to know the somewhat hidden content of the countless processed products that we consume.

In the spring, Intermarché announced the display of the “score” of all its products sold under its private label. This Monday, the company is publishing a report written in partnership with Serge Hercberg, nutritionist and inventor of Nutri-Score, and Mathilde Touvier, research director at Inserm and specialist in nutrition issues.

Brands that remain hidden

In their white paper, the authors describe the mechanisms used by the agribusiness to try to discredit their work. “All three of us make the same observation. This is because we are subject to the same pressures, with the same methods, from the same actors. We are facing large and powerful companies that are doing everything to delay the implementation of transparency tools like Nutri-Score. They want to sow doubt,” explains Julie Chapon.

In their report, the three specialists criticize in particular the underwater actions of industrial federations, which prevent brands from attacking head-on. We can notably cite the National Association of Food Industries (ANIA). Totally unknown to the French, it brings together powerful federations such as those of charcuterie, cereals and milk. And in fact carries the interests of much more famous brands like Lactalis, Fleury Michon, Haribo, Justin Bridou or Ferrero. Except that the latter are never directly exposed.

Faced with the very significant financial resources deployed by these companies, researchers and nutritionists are struggling to keep up. The charcuterie lobby, for example, took Yuka to court, accusing the company of having qualified nitrites as “carcinogenic” substances. Convicted at first instance, she won her case on appeal. But the procedure cost him 500,000 euros and three years of waiting and stress.

Displays per portion

In their white paper, the three authors also denounce the choice of several multinationals to launch their own nutritional logo in 2017, with the sole aim of torpedoing the Nutri-Score. The display of nutritional values ​​per “portion of 10 or 15 grams”, at the discretion of the manufacturer. A choice that almost made Nutella seem like a healthy product. This famous “Evolved nutrition label” will be abandoned two years later. Or even to accuse the Nutri-Score of endangering the small producers of Roquefort. While 70% of production is ensured by the world number one milk producer. Lactalis has also attacked Nutri-Score at the European level, denouncing the calculation methods. It's his right.