Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar-Siman signed a new regulation that will compel food manufacturers to include nutritional profiling on food labels towards encouraging increased health awareness. The new regulation will compel a red symbol for certain unwanted ingredients such as trans fats, excess salt and sugar. Implementation of the new regulation will be gradual from now to 2020.

A green symbol will signal a recommended item in the hope of encouraging shoppers to opt for more healthy food shopping.

A committee was appointed in April 2016 to formulate regulations towards developing the accepted or recommended nutritional profile basing it greatly on international standards. Committee members visited factories and met with many persons involved in the food industry.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)