Russian scientists propose to label products with high content of salt, sugar and trans fats

UFA, 25 September 2017. /Bashinform News Agency, Olga Murtazina/. The Russian scientists propose to label products with a high content of salt, sugar and trans fats. This was reported by Izvestia. The Federal Research Center for Nutrition, Biotechnology and Food Safety (FIC) studied the diet of Russians and compiled a list of products which consumption should be limited.

The study showed that the main sources of salt intake into the human body were bread and bread products, sausages and canned meat, cheeses, canned vegetables and pickles, salted and smoked fish, fast food and various combination foods (sauces and ketchups).

Scientists named sweet flour products, cakes and pastries, sweets, sweet sour-milk products and curd products, sweet non-alcoholic drinks, nectars and juice drinks as the main sources of added sugars.

Excess fat, saturated fatty acids and trans fats were found in sausages, confectionery, fat-and-oil products and sauces.

The measures proposed by the FIC are developed within the framework of the "Strategy for food products quality improving in the Russian Federation until 2030" approved by the Government in 2016.

The list was sent to the Ministry of Health and Rospotrebnadzor, which scientists proposed to mark these goods. This can be done with a help of visual and readable marking "traffic light". The Rospotrebnadzor clarified that proposals for specifying the amount of salt, sugar and trans fats on the labels had already been submitted to the Eurasian Economic Commission - the regulatory body of the Customs Union.

"Modern nutritiology determines the following optimum levels of total daily intake of critically important nutrients: not more than 5 g of salt, 50-60 g of added sugar, 65 g of fat, 20 g of saturated fatty acids and 2 g of trans fats", the FIC informed.

In Russia, according to the Center, 50% of men and 60% of women over 30 years of age have an overweight or obesity.