Summary:
This resolution modifies Resolution No. 810 of 2021 on technical regulation on front-of-pack nutritional labeling (FOPL).
Description:
Resolution No. 2492 of 2022 was adopted by the Ministry of Health to establish technical criteria for the adoption of front-of-pack nutritional labeling in Colombia (FOPL, in Spanish “etiquetado frontal de advertencia”). It modifies articles 2, 3, 16, 25, 32, 37 and 40 of Resolution No. 810 of 2021. It was adopted pursuant to the mandate granted to the Ministry of Health by Law No. 2120 of 2021 on the Promotion of Health Food Environments and NCD prevention (commonly referred to in the media with the Spanish nickname “ley comida chatarra”).
Its main features are:
- It introduces the definition of ultra-processed products (in Spanish, “productos alimenticios ultraprocesados”). It defines them as “Processed food products made with technological processes, subjected to transformation processes to which salt, sugar, fats, or other ingredients are added. They contain more than 5 ingredients and/or additives and less than 50% of the ingredients are unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Among their ingredients are included, but not limited to: casein, whey, protein hydrolysates, isolated soy proteins, hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, or interesterified oils, modified starches” (Art. 2, now Art. 3.54 of the amended regulation).
- It modifies the nutritional profile of Resolution No. 810 of 2021. It reduces the thresholds that trigger the obligatory inclusion of FOPL warning seals. It expands the scope to encompass not only sugar, sodium, and saturated fats but also trans fats and sweeteners (Art. 5, now Art. 32.1 of the amended regulation).
- It changes the design of the FOPL warning seals to octagonal shapes, mandating the inscription ‘excess of’ (“exceso en”) on them (Art. 5, now Art. 32.3 of the amended regulation).
- It provides that products bearing one or more warning seals are not allowed to display nutritional claims (Article 3, now Article 16.3 of the amended regulation) or health claims (Art. 4, now Art. 25.4 of the amended regulation).