Panama takes public consultation on food labeling to the WTO

The consultation will be available until mid-May. The Panamanian proposal seeks that the labeling be bilingual and that it be supported by technology for reading QR codes, as well as the possible creation of a platform to help in the traceability of domestically produced foods.

Panama is taking the first steps to adopt a technical regulation on prepackaged food labeling. On March 15, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Mici) submitted an open consultation to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to create a labeling regulation that will benefit the population.

The open consultation for the 189 member countries of the WTO will be available until May 15 and interested parties must share their comments accompanied by technical, scientific and proven evidence. The objective is to establish the requirements to be met by the labeling of pre-packaged food products for human consumption, from 3 years of age, in order to provide the final consumer with information and prevent misleading practices.

Once the consultation is closed, the officialization of the Central American Technical Regulation RTCA 67.01.6023 will require the approval of the Council of Ministers of Economic Integration (Comieco). The document is also posted on the websites of the entities of the rest of the Central American countries that make up the Central American Integration System (Sica).

The government agencies dealing with labeling in the region are: the Ministry of Economy (Mineco, Guatemala), the Salvadoran Technical Regulation Agency (Osartec, El Salvador), the Secretariat of Economic Development (SDE, Honduras), the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce (Mific, Nicaragua), the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (Meic, Costa Rica) and the Mici, Panama.

Although the rest of the Central American countries have previous rules or regulations or those dating back to 2010, it was not until 2013 that Panama's accession agreement to the Economic Integration Subsystem of the Central American Integration System (Sieca) came into force, in order to negotiate the free trade agreement with the European Union as a bloc.

Joseph Gallardo, of Mici's General Directorate of Standards and Industrial Technology, explained to this media that the regulation would be the first of about three, starting with general labeling, and would later address nutritional and warning labeling.

Gallardo said that although Panama has been slow in regulating labeling, unlike the rest of the region, the country works with the Codex Alimentarius in Canada, where they propose a labeling supported by technology, such as the use of QR and commercial codes, so that products entering Panama would also have information in English. He explained that in the region they only want labeling in Spanish, and trade with the rest of the region would be in that language only.

The specialist emphasized that since Panama is a country with an important commercial exchange and technological progress, he also seeks to create a platform with information that would even serve producers to provide them with internal traceability, which would put us at the regional forefront. "So far we have not received any comments on the consultation, either people are satisfied with what appears there or they have not noticed it," said Gallardo, who is participating in the regular meeting of the Codex committee on food contaminants.

Pedro Acosta, president of the National Union of Consumers and Users of the Republic of Panama (Uncurepa), expressed his surprise to this newspaper, since in previous discussions there was talk of labeling in two languages, but the document posted does not address the issue.

Panama, in compliance with Law 45 of 2007 on the consumer, says that it must label in Spanish and inform the consumer clearly and truthfully, both in terms of weight, measurements and others, said the leader of Uncurepa, adding that "before there were standards and technical regulations, standards are not mandatory, but technical regulations are, and in Panama, now everything that was a standard is becoming a regulation and is becoming law".

The proposal before the WTO

The labeling of pre-packaged fresh foods is governed by the internal provisions of each member country, excluding from the application of these regulations unprocessed foods and processed products packaged in the presence of the consumer, such as: packaged water, ice, coffee, infused tea, spices, culinary herbs to which no other ingredients have been added.

The document states that packaging units whose largest surface area is less than 10 cm² are also excluded. In case they are in a secondary packaging, the declaration must be placed. Similarly, the standard excludes fermented and distilled alcoholic beverages from the scope of application of this regulation. When nutritional information is declared on the label of a foodstuff exempted from the present regulation, the labeling must comply with the requirements of the regulation.

In addition, alcoholic beverages may not make nutritional claims (except for the phrases allowed in fermented alcoholic beverages or those referring to reduced energy, sugar and sodium content) or health claims. Central American Technical Regulation RTCA 67.01.6023 establishes that among the nutrients that must be declared on labels are: energy value, total fat, trans fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, total sugars, added sugars, sodium and protein.

Figures from Panama's 2019 National Health Survey indicate that 72% of adults are overweight, of which 36% are obese. In addition, in Panama around 40% of school-age children and adolescents are overweight; and in young children, under five years of age, this disease affects 13%. Taking into account data from 2003, when excess weight in school children was 20% and in young children it was 9.4%, it can be highlighted that this malnutrition phenomenon has increased alarmingly in the last 20 years, according to Dr. Israel Rios Castillo, FAO nutrition officer.

Frontal warning labeling

Another attempt at food labeling was presented in January 2020, Yaidelis González Fuentes, alternate deputy of circuit 8-8, with the preliminary bill 317 on 'Frontal nutritional warning labeling' which graphically gives the nutritional warnings with a black octagon. Bill 265 and/or Preliminary Bill 317 is still pending discussion in first debate since August 2021 in the Labor, Health and Social Development Commission.

Alternate Deputy González Fuentes confirmed to this media that the document was approved, but that "there is no political will and there is also pressure from industry representatives so that it is not discussed".

After González Fuentes' legislative proposal, in 2022, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Healthy Food Movement of Panama confirmed the benefits of having frontal nutritional warning labeling in Panama. For the study, some one thousand people in the country made their food purchases in 31 supermarkets, where they consulted the system of octagonal warning seals, to make the purchase intention, on the correct identification of the healthiest product and on the presence of an excess of critical nutrients in the products.

In this regard, FAO's subregional coordinator for Mesoamerica, Adoniram Sanches Peraci, said that given the challenge of combating malnutrition in the region and in Panama, it is essential to take timely measures to improve the nutritional status of the population. "The front labeling of nutritional warning is a complete tool, easy to implement and use, which allows us to better inform the population so that we can all know what we are consuming, and make appropriate decisions to take care of our health and that of our families," said the FAO representative in September of that year.

In line with these results, the representatives of the United Nations agencies agreed on the need to have the octagonal seals to guide decision-making in public policies aimed at establishing healthier food environments and preventing non-communicable diseases associated with poor nutrition in Panama.

The study takes on special importance, taking into account the figures that indicate that, in the country, more than 71% of the adult population is overweight, and more than 35% is obese.

Frontal labeling with octagonal seals is a complete tool, approved in Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia, and is being promoted in the Americas because of its results.

Also from a health perspective, Luis Villarreal, public health expert and nutritionist, applauded the progress made so that Panamanian and regional consumers have better information about what they buy, especially so that they can make better choices when taking care of their health. "This is great news and will benefit millions of people throughout the region in the medium term. Panama is a country that can be at the forefront, like other countries, and that have greater scope in information on the products that are consumed regularly. If the front labeling is implemented, it will make a great difference and the result will be noticed in the population in terms of the decrease in the figures of pathologies such as diabetes, hypertension, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease," he said.

Villarreal said that in Panama there is a lack of nutritional education because there is no good information, there is no system that allows access to updated information and according to the nutritional reality of the country, where most cases occur in people who are overweight.

"The consumer is not only being forced to choose the ideal options, but to have the information so that he can know exactly what he has what he is going to eat and make the best decisions according to his budget and the products he finds. They can also prioritize the consumption of local foods, which will allow them to have a healthier body and mind, and above all to have a better quality of life," he added.

CREDIT: CE Noticias Financieras English - CENFENG