Mexican activists win battle for food warnings

— After a decade of fighting for stronger food labeling standards in one of the most obese countries in the world, Mexican activists celebrated Monday over a new rule that will require warning labels on high-calorie products.

The new rules will require black octagonal stop signs to be printed on the front of packages reading “high in calories,” “excessive salt” or “high in saturated fat,” among other things.

In a country where 75.2% percent of people over 20 are either obese or overweight, current labeling rules require only a backof-package listing of how much a product contains of daily recommended intake of key ingredients.

Consumer activist Alejandro Calvillo said current labeling rules were so unintelligible — each company lists “portion sizes” as it sees fit — that in one study, only 3% of university nutrition students could correctly interpret the labels. For example, some products use 30 grams as a standard comparison, some 100 grams.

The new label standards were approved by health authorities and announced over the weekend.

Special warning strips will be included for ingredients like caffeine and trans-fats, stating “not recommended for children.”

“This recognizes the right of consumers to have at least a minimal amount of information in the face of a health problem, a health catastrophe,” Calvillo said. “This is an issue where Mexico has to take the lead, because it has a very serious problem.

A recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows Mexico stands to lose the greatest amount of life expectancy — an average of at least 4 years — due to obesity-related problems.

In coming years, the country could lose over 5% of its GDP to obesity-related problems, including lost work hours and health costs.