La controverse du Nutri-Score : expérimenter pour imposer un logo contesté par Julie Blanck, sociologue à Sciences Po

The sociologist Julie Blanck (Sciences Po) will present her research report “The Controversy over Nutritional Logos: Experimenting to Legitimize a Contested Instrument.” Abstract: On July 8 and 9, 2017, two journalists from Le Monde published an investigation into conflicts of interest surrounding the selection of a nutritional front-of-pack label. Their article criticizes a real-life purchasing experiment conducted to compare four nutritional logos—Nutri-Score, SENS, Nutri-Couleur, and Nutri-Repères. They recount the history of this new public policy instrument, its development, and the strong opposition from economic actors—industry and retailers—who reject a “stigmatizing” label and mobilize to prevent its implementation at both European and national levels. The journalists particularly denounce the composition of the committees in charge of the experiment and the choice of operational partners: according to them, “conflicts of interest cast doubt on the impartiality” of the study. The steering committee included representatives from industry and retail groups. It entrusted the operationalization of the study to the Fonds Français pour l’Alimentation et la Santé (FFAS), presented as a form of “scientific lobbying organization,” funded by industry to strengthen ties between academics and economic actors. This proximity to industry also appears in the scientific committee responsible for designing the experimental protocol, as several researchers allegedly had links “with industry,” which reportedly led three researchers to “resign with a bang.” A topic previously handled discreetly within negotiation arenas involving policymakers, scientists, economic actors, and consumer associations suddenly became highly mediatised. Throughout the experiment, journalists from the national press closely followed the process, reporting its developments to the general public.