Congressmen in the national Parliament approved the bill that requires digital front labeling (QR codes or bar codes) of food. The initiative now passes to the Senate.
As explained by the deputy of the Colorado Party, Martín Melazzi “Basically, it is to incorporate digital front labeling to consumer products, which currently already have it. These are the well-known QR codes or bar codes, all the information that consumers need today”.
The Presidential Decree was published on April 17 in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), by which the General Law of Adequate and Sustainable Food is issued, with the aim of guaranteeing the constitutional right to food.
It is highlighted in the Drcreto, in the first article, that federal and municipal entities and territorial demarcations must establish planning, coordination and competition mechanisms, with the objective of guaranteeing the full exercise of the right to adequate food.
Likewise, the third article states that “all people, individually or collectively, have the right to adequate food at all times, and to have food for daily consumption, as well as physical and economic access to safe, nutritional quality and in sufficient quantity to satisfy their physiological needs at all stages of their life cycle that enable their integral development and a dignified life, in accordance with their cultural context and specific needs.”
Before the discussion of bill 23861, which proposes front labeling with nutritional warnings on food and non-alcoholic beverages, the Minister a.i. of Economy, Patricia Rojas, explained before the Disability Commission that the initiative is contrary to international legislation, is unconstitutional and violates regional agreements, because the technical regulation on this issue is governed by a Central American integration treaty.
Purpose of the Bill
The bill seeks to establish a regulatory framework for the front labeling of food products and beverages with non-alcoholic content. The foregoing, as a nutritional warning mechanism, promoting access to information in a visible, quick and easy-to-understand manner for consumers of such products, when marketed in the country and the rules applicable when imported from another country.
The Ombudsman’s Office supported the resolution of the Constitutional Chamber, announced yesterday, to eliminate the circular issued by the Ministry of Health that concealed the nutritional warning stamps on the front labeling of food. At the beginning of this month, the Ombudsman’s Office notified a report to the Ministry of Health in which it recommended to the Ministry to annul the circular, after an extensive technical and legal analysis.
The Ombudsman’s Office argued that the Ministry of Health did not demonstrate, with studies with quali-quantitative information, that the Front End Nutrition Warning Label (EFAN) of the imported products that carry it confused the consumer and that it had the corresponding legal basis. This investigation, in the opinion of this Ombudsman’s Office, should be carried out with the contributions of the academic sectors, professional associations and non-governmental organizations.
The Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (La Corte) determined the constitutionality of the provisions that regulate the front labeling for prepackaged food and non-alcoholic beverages, to indicate the products that exceed the maximum limits of energy content, added sugars, saturated fats, sodium and other critical nutrients established by the provisions:
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