Roquefort cheese puts France against the new Nutriscore labeling

NutriScore, a food labeling system intended to provide nutritional information in a straightforward, quick, and visual manner, has experienced various changes, renewals, and controversies in recent years. This front labeling classifies foods through a color and letter scheme, from A in dark green for the healthiest options to E in dark red for the least recommended. After its update in December 2023, this labeling has sparked disagreements in some European countries.

In France, the Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard, has refused to sign the instruction to apply the new Nutriscore labeling system in the country, disagreeing with the rating given to certain French dairy products. Mainly, due to a food that is iconic for French gastronomy: Roquefort cheese. "I have not signed yet; I don't know how much room there is to correct the negative effects," stated conservative Genevard on March 6, referring to the bad score of Roquefort, considered one of the flags of French gastronomy. The minister also criticized that skimmed milk and other dairy products have been downgraded in the new Nutriscore evaluation system.

While countries like Belgium or Germany have implemented the updated labeling since 2024, French products that voluntarily adopted this notation in 2017 in the form of a traffic light still have not. From the old system, it was criticized that certain breakfast cereals had a better score while olive oil received a mediocre rating, issues corrected by the new algorithm launched by a group of European scientists led by University 13 of Paris-Bobigny.