An assessment of nutrition information on front of pack labels and healthiness of Cereals and products in Vanuatu retail market

Abstract

Abstract Nutrient profiling of front of pack labels is described as the science of ranking foods based on their nutrient content. It is fast becoming the basis for regulating nutrition labels, health claims, and marketing and advertising, especially for child and medicinal products. Survey of imported food nutritional facts is a primary monitoring tool for product quality evaluation prior to facts finding laboratory testing. Vanuatu, a South Pacific Island country depend on imports for its cereals needs, however there has been longstanding concerns over low quality and non-nutrient products with misleading labels. To evaluate this, a survey on nutritional quality on the food labels was conducted on cereals and products sold in retail market in Port Vila to qualitatively assess the nutrient profile. The survey aims to capture the availability of nutrient information on product, most common nutrient information on facts sheets and to qualify food based on the criteria of Food and Drugs Administration of the United States. Front-of pack labels on each cereal product were taken by a tablet device and manually entered into a database. The data was treated in a two-way randomized block design to evaluate presence of each nutrient, most common nutrient, and content of each nutrient on front of pack labels. Results revealed six significant and most common nutrient on cereals and products such as Energy, Protein, Fats, Carbohydrate, Sugar, Sodium and Saturated Fats compared to mineral, vitamins and other factors (P < 0.05). Over 70% of cereals and products having sugar, sodium and saturated fats (14.40 ± 15.65 g, 371.67 ± 278.75 mg and 6.61 ± 5.76 g respectively) beyond the FDA maximum limits of 2.5 g, 230 mg and 1 g. In light of these findings, authorities may require including and strengthening food quality monitoring programs to ensure supplies are within safe limits. Further research into developing a healthy food criteria model is recommended.