Why Danone will no longer display the Nutri-Score on its unfavorably rated drinking yogurts

One of the first companies to adopt the Nutri-Score, the agri-food giant Danone, has announced that it will no longer display it on its drinkable yogurts. MAXPPP – Thomas Padilla

One of the first companies to adopt the Nutri-Score, the agri-food giant Danone, announced this Wednesday, September 4, 2024 that it would no longer display it on its drinkable yogurts, which are now unfavorably rated, a “lamentable” step backwards according to the designer of the logo.

“We have decided to gradually remove the Nutri-Score from our dairy and plant-based drinkable products from our brands starting in September 2024”, the manufacturer said in a press release.

This concerns the liquid versions of the Actimel, Danonino, Hi-Pro, Danone and Activia brands, a spokesperson said.

With a simple color code, from green to red, and letters from A to E, the Nutri-Score guides consumers towards healthier products and encourages manufacturers to improve their recipes.

"Pioneer in France" in 2017

Pending harmonised and mandatory labelling at European level, companies display it on a voluntary basis in seven countries (Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland). Others, such as in Italy, are fiercely opposed to it.

Danone claims to have been “a pioneer in France”, using the Nutri-Score since its launch in 2017. “It's a tool that we believed in a lot”, assures the group's spokesperson.

Calculation method contested

But the update of the calculation method, decided in 2023 by the scientific committee of the Nutri-Score, is contested by Danone and other manufacturers whose products are becoming less well rated.

“It is lamentable, extremely shocking, to see that Danone is abandoning the Nutri-Score when the rules of the game established by scientists no longer please it”, reacted Serge Hercberg, professor of nutrition at the Sorbonne Paris Nord University and designer of the Nutri-Score.

Not a member of the scientific committee, he defends the work of these experts who “work neither to please manufacturers nor to penalize them gratuitously but solely according to the interest of public health”.

The company Ecotone, owner of the manufacturer of plant-based biscuits and drinks Bjorg, had been pinned at the end of 2023 by the UFC-Que Choisir association for having removed the Nutri-Score from its packaging just before the deployment of the new algorithm.

In a response sent to AFP, Ecotone defended itself from displaying a “Planet-score” since April 2023 to “raise awareness” among customers about the environmental impact of its products. The Nutri-score remains a "compass for developing our new recipes" and remains available online, specifies the company, which affirms that the share of its products rated A, B or C remains "in the same orders of magnitude" with the new calculation method.

"Liquid Snack"

Danone's decision only concerns its drinking yogurts. These are now considered drinks rather than foods and are therefore notably compared to water, which alone can be classified A. Next come skimmed and semi-skimmed milk (B), then whole milk (C).

With the revision of the algorithm, Actimel, promoted by the group as a health product, goes from A or B to D.

Danonino children's drinkable yogurt also drops to D, “like a sugary soda drink”, deplores the spokesperson, noting that Danonino yogurt consumed by the spoonful “remains at B” with “similar nutritional values”.

Even if the quantity of sugars is equivalent, the distinction between solid and drinkable yogurt is “relevant” for Professor Hercberg: the latter is mainly taken outside of meals, as a “liquid snack”, at the risk of leading to “significant consumption among children and adolescents”.

What UFC Que-Choisir denounces

“This helps alert consumers to the fact that these products must be consumed in a reasonable manner”, believes Mr. Hercberg.

UFC-Que-Choisir denounces “Danone's pseudo-nutritional argument” and believes that the episode provides “new proof that The display of the Nutri-Score on a voluntary basis does not ensure that consumers are properly informed.”

“Unacceptable”

The consumer association Foodwatch has described the “backtracking” of the French multinational as “unacceptable”.” “Let Danone no longer make us believe that it is “concerns the health of consumers” , criticized Audrey Morice, the organization's campaign manager, in a reaction sent to AFP.