Highlighted in bright orange are countries with a mandatory government developed, owned and/or endorsed simplified front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme.

Highlighted in light orange are countries with a voluntary government developed, owned and/or endorsed simplified front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme. 

Front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labels can empower people to select healthier food products. Such labels appear to help consumers identify healthier options, and, dependent on design, could nudge toward healthier choices. Beyond health considerations, FOP labels strengthen consumer rights by allowing nutrition information to be presented in an easy and transparent way. They thereby help address the market failure of information asymmetry, where the seller has more information about products than buyers.

Front-of-pack systems are recommended by the World Health Organization and can form part of a larger package of policies to create healthy, empowering food environments. Today, the European Union (EU) has no common front-of-pack scheme, and EU law prevents countries from making such labels mandatory. Governments can endorse a front-of-pack system for voluntary use, but voluntary schemes reduce the potential benefits of such systems. Evidence suggests that interpretive FOP nutrition labels are more favourable to have an effect on consumer’s choices and therefore only interpretive labels are included in this overview.

Latest update: December 9, 2021