Day: 17/04/2024

Guatemala – Deputies proposed amendments to the healthy labeling bill

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A series of amendments will be introduced in Congress to the Healthy Food Promotion Law initiative, which requires warning labeling of high fat and sugar content in manufactured foods, and which is scheduled for third reading in the Plenary this week.

There are at least 6 or 7 amendments, which include the elimination of the tax rate for the warning labels; reduction of the proposed penalties; and extension of the law’s term, among others.

The initiative is identified with the number 5504, was presented in 2018 and the second reading took place at the end of February 2024, so it is only pending approval in third reading, by articles and final wording.

For further information, you can access the original source in Spanish

Article – The labelling of ultra-processed foods, ‘ideological biases’ and ‘false consciousness’: a historical narrative of the experience in Colombia

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While COVID-19 attacked people with diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, among other non-communicable diseases, the former Colombian government was betting on implementing a value-added tax (VAT) on the cost of production for food for the family basket (Paladines and Castellanos, 2021a, 2021c, 2021d, 2021e). It was added to a scenario of institutional weakness, evidenced by a social context ruled by a legal architecture showing a lack of positive and structural impact in the protection of the right to health, safeguarding the sovereignty of the consumer, and in short, in satisfying the general interest of a population immersed in a background of false consciousness, scenarios of sub-optimal choice and the prevalence of ideological and cognitive bias. Moreover, this article proposes a historical account if we consider the recent changes in the Colombian normative-regulatory model in the labelling of ultra-processed foods before the approval of a new regulation and agenda in December 2022.

For further information, you can access the original source in English

Argetina/Article – Act 27642 and food labelling: a step forward in ensuring the right to proper nutrition

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In this paper we will address the right to proper nutrition, focusing on its regulation in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and we will examine one aspect of this right: food labeling. Accordingly, we will mention the different labelling models used in the world pointing out the complexity and challenges this right present in accomplishing its full effectiveness. Also, we will make a particularized analysis of the Argentinean’s Act 27642 of Healthy Food Promotion (known as “labelling law”), its legislative backgrounds and the protection of vulnerable groups. Then, we will make a critical analysis on where the Argentinean’s proper nutrition right stands. Finally, we will conclude that accomplishing the effectiveness of proper nutrition right re quires a great challenge that demands not only regulatory measures of the normative type (suchas the labelling law) but also concrete, continuous, intense, clear, and interdisciplinary measures. Thus, although labelling law is a big step towards that goal, it cannot solve the problem by itself because it demands a continuous social, political, and economic commitment.

For further information, you can access the original source in English

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