Peru increased its sugar-sweetened beverage tax by 8 percentage points (from 17% to 25%) in 2018 and in 2019 imposed front-of-package warning labels on processed and ultra-processed foods and beverages high in sugar, saturated fats, and sodium or containing trans fats. We assess the pre-COVID-19 impacts of these two policies on aggregate formal employment and average wages in the food and beverage industry. In the analysis we use monthly administrative data from the Ministry of Labor in Peru for 127 manufacturing industries from January 2016 through February 2020 and pair an interrupted time series analysis with the synthetic control method. Overall we find that the sugar-sweetened beverage tax increase and the front-of-package label regulations did not result in job or wage losses. These results are consistent with outcomes from previous studies that have separately looked at the effects of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes (in the United States and Mexico) and front-of-package label regulations (in Chile). Our key contribution is that we assess the effects of both policies for the same country. Consistent with the global literature, our findings suggest that, due to industry substitutions and other actions, employment and wages were not impacted even in industries affected by both policies in a short time. The lack of job and wage losses in the Peruvian experience, the scope of the country’s policies, and the form of implementation can advise other countries engaging in similar reforms.
Front-of-package warning label
Article – Reformulation of Top-Selling Processed and Ultra-Processed Foods and Beverages in the Peruvian Food Supply after Front-of-Package Warning Label Policy
Front-of-package warning label (FOPWL) policies incentivize the food industry to reduce the content of regulated nutrients in products. We explored changes in the content of nutrients of concern (sugar, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium) and the percentage of products in the Peruvian food supply that would carry a FOPWL before and after Peru’s implementation of FOPWLs. Longitudinal data on the top-selling foods and beverages (n = 94) were collected at three time points: three months before the implementation of the policy, four months after, and two years after. Using the nutritional information declared on products’ labels, we compared quantities of nutrients of concern and the percentage of foods that would carry a FOPWL at each time point. Between the first and the third data collection, a decrease in the median sugar content of beverages was observed (from 9.0 to 5.9 g/100 mL, p = 0.005), accompanied by an increase in the use of nonnutritive sweeteners. This change drove the reduction of the percentage of beverages that would carry a FOPWL (from 59 to 31%, p = 0.011). Among foods, decreases were observed in saturated fat (from 6.7 to 5.9 g/100 g, p = 0.002). The percentage of foods that would carry a FOPWL according to their nutritional profile declined from before to after implementation of the policy (from 82 to 62%, p < 0.001). The study shows that the industry reformulated products in Peru after implementation of its FOPWL policy.
Argentina – Front-of-package warning label regulations incorporated into the Food Code
The Secretariat of Health Quality and the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries published Joint Resolution 7/2022, which incorporates in Article 225 and 226 in Chapter V STANDARDS FOR FOOD LABELLING AND ADVERTISING of the Argentine Food Code the rules on front-of-package warning label:
Article 225: Analcoholic foods and beverages packaged in the absence of the client or customer, which must carry nutritional information shall declare the content of total sugars and added sugars in the nutritional labeling. The declaration of total and added sugars shall be made on the nutrition labeling immediately after the declaration of carbohydrates.
Article 226: The declaration of the front nutritional labeling is mandatory in those foods and non-alcoholic beverages packaged in the absence of the client or customer to which sugars, sodium, fats or ingredients containing them have been added in their elaboration process, when in their final composition the amounts of added sugars, saturated fats, total fats, sodium and/or energy are equal or higher than the limits and conditions defined in the present article. Likewise, those foods containing sweeteners and/or caffeine must declare the cautionary legend in accordance with the provisions of this article.
Argentina – CONAL meeting reviews progress on front-of-package warning label and trans fats
The 146th regular meeting of the National Food Commission (CONAL in Spanish) was held recently. The following topics were reviewed:
- Importance in the integration of the sanitary system of food control, as each area contributes to achieve better health.
- Advances in the implementation of the access to the affidavit and the public search engine of the nutritional seals and warnings system.
- Sending to administrative procedure the Draft Joint Resolution that establishes the new maximum limits for trans fatty acids in finished products and raw materials and the prohibition of the processing of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil of industrial production.
- Sending to administrative procedure the projects referred to the modification of article 1353 bis of the Argentine Food Code (CAA) on the update in the specifications of infant formulas, the incorporation of new enzymes and native vegetable species.
- The Commission agreed to consider new topics, among which are the integral proposal of the articles on peanuts and their derivatives, the incorporation of alcoholic beverages of artisanal production and the determination of the limit of arsenic in edible algae.
Mexico – Opinion: Front-of-package warning label work and industry doesn’t like them
The octagons on the packaging of industrialized foods and beverages that warn about the high content of harmful ingredients are effective, according to scientific studies. Despite this – or perhaps because of it – the industry seeks to slow down the second stage of labeling implementation in Mexico.
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