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The Choices Nutrition Criteria: Proposed Changes for Israel

The Choices Nutrition Criteria: Proposed Changes for Israel. Background on Choices in Israel. Plans to launch at Q4 2009 Specific dietary habits related to Mediterranean diet and Jewish diet Review of criteria began in August 2008

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The Choices Nutrition Criteria: Proposed Changes for Israel

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  1. The Choices Nutrition Criteria: Proposed Changes for Israel

  2. Background on Choices in Israel • Plans to launch at Q4 2009 • Specific dietary habits related to Mediterranean diet and Jewish diet • Review of criteria began in August 2008 • Drafts and comments sent to Choices International foundation: • September 2008 (identification of foods to be adjusted) • November 2008 (recommendations for food groups+ analysis of nutrients) • January 2009 (recommendations for Cheese, Hummus (chickpeas), Meat, Milk) • Meeting with Jaap Seidel January 2009 (agreement on kosher meet and 3 % milk as a time leg) • February 2009 – Meeting report, agreement on next steps and process for adjusting criteria with CIF • April 2009 – Draft final review recommendations by Israeli scientific committee/ Adjustment to the local situation in Israel is critical for launching Choices in Q4, 2009

  3. Food product evaluation in Israel - Methodology • Analysis of Choices Criteria against Israeli dietary patterns for most products available on the Israeli market: • Review and analysis of choices food groups using Israeli National Nutrition Survey (Mabat 2003) and israeli food data base (Tsameret) • Missing data collected from food packaging or from laboratory tests, • Thorough analysis of the food content, consumption patterns, technological production, compatibility to Choices and other nutritional labeling programs. - Examination of the need for adjusting Choices criteria to consumption patterns in Israel. - Suggested solutions for the adjustment of the criteria, according to the choices methodology

  4. The Process for developing suggested adjustments in the Choices criteria in Israel • Identifying missing : 1. food groups 2. product groups 3. gaps • Review of nutrient content, role in the diet • Consultation with IMOH on consumption patters and MOH policy • Position paper from IMOH • 4 meetings of Israeli Choices Scientific Committee • Presenting issues to Prof Jaap Seidel by the Israeli committee during his visit in January 2009 • Proposing criteria for specific groups in Israel, using Choices criteria development system and principles • Decision by national committee on criteria for specific food groups

  5. What are the gaps? Choices criteria reflect patterns of Western/Northern European diet The Israeli Manu reflect some differences : • Jewish Tradition: Kosher cuisine (separating meat from cheeses in the same meal, koshering of foods). • Local Dietary patterns: • White Cheeses, Milk and the major role of low fat dairy foods in the diet • Salad spreads (hummus- chickpeas) • Breakfast Cereals • Kosher (e.g., salt in meat) • Rice

  6. Dairy Products in Israel • Dairy products : • Choices “cheese food group” contains cheese not highly recommended and not as prevalent in Mediterranean diet (hard cheese high in salt and SAFA) • Choices does not cover white soft cheese such as fresh cream cheese and cottage cheese, labane – all are main source of dairy foods in Israel (most are low fat (3-9% fat), and substantially lower in sodium levels then cheese (900 in Cheese against 350-400 in soft cheese) • White soft Cheese are central to daily menu of all Israelis, they are eaten at least once a day in dinner or even twice breakfast and dinner in an average amount of 100-200 gr a day.

  7. Salad Spreads • Current Choices criteria do not allow for appropriate food group for basic salad spreads typical in Israeli (and Mediterranean diet) such as • Hummus (Chick Peas) salad spread • Tahinni (sesame spread) • Eggplant salads (babaganoush) Current criteria either allow for too many products or for no products at all.

  8. White Soft Cheese and Cottage Cheese Proposal for Adjusting the Choices criteria to Israel • Fundamental products in most Israelis' menu • Commonly contain between 3-5% fat • Consumedas a spread on bread or with a spoon in dairy meals. • Hard cheese is not as common in Israel as it is in Europe and therefore white soft cheese is an important source of protein and calcium.

  9. White Soft Cheese and Cottage Cheese in Israel Evaluation according to the Choices groups: Milk products: All products were disqualified due to high sodium levels,products containing more than 3% fat were also disqualified due to SAFA. Cheese products: All products complied with the Choices criteria. Oils & spreads:All products were disqualified, most due to sodium and SAFA Unique Israeli food which do not fit in the current Choices criteria scheme It is necessary to create a new product subgroup.

  10. White Soft Cheese and Cottage Cheese in Israel • Sodium levels - White soft cheese: 130 - 340 mg /100 g • Sodium levels - Cottage cheese: 370 - 430 mg /100 g • Cottage cheese contains 100-150 mg/100g more sodium due to the manufacturing techniques(the process which gives cottage cheese its unique texture involves the use of sodium). • In order for cottage cheeseto qualify, the sodium criterion should be set to about 400 mg/100g

  11. Other nutritional labeling programs in the world: The food product group that was found to contain the most similar products was the "Fresh cheese" in the Swedish "Keyhole" program. The fat criterion:Allows for 5% fat cheese to qualify. The sodium criterion: > Stricter than the choices cheese group(900mg/100g), Less strict than the choices milk group (120mg/100g) > Not applicable in Israel - will cause disqualification of all cottage cheese (all products contain more than 370mg/100g) White Soft Cheese and Cottage Cheese – review of healthy symbols programs

  12. The proposal made by the Israeli scientific committee: These products are to be included as a separate group. The benchmark for this group is to allow for 400mg/100g sodium and 2g/100g SAFA. It is recommended to stiffen the sodium criterion in later stages of the implementation of the Choices program. White Soft Cheese and Cottage Cheese in Israel • This will result in the qualifying of 38% of the products, all of the soft white cheese and cottage cheese containing up to 3% fat (including those manufactured by most manufactures). • Viable suggestion, strict enough to stimulate innovation, will qualify sufficient number of products to ensure the consumption of beneficial nutrients.

  13. White Soft Cheese and Cottage Cheese in Israel

  14. Vegetable oil based spreads (Hummus) Proposal for Adjusting the Choices criteria to Israel • Hummus is chick-peas spread/paste • Hummus is fundamental in the diet of Israelis and other Mediterranean countries • For some Israelis, hummus is not only a spread, but rather the main course of the meal (usually consumed with pita bread).

  15. Hummus spreads in Israel • What is Hummus? Ingredients:16% cooked hummus (chick-peas), vegetable oil, water, tahini, salt, lemon acid, spices, preservative • The sodium level is usually above 350 mg / 100 g • Wide range of SAFA and sodium levels

  16. Evaluation according to the Choices groups: Processed vegetable: All products were disqualifieddue to sodium and SAFA levels Oils & spreads: A majority of the products (65%) comply. The main reason for disqualification: sodium (91%), SAFA (18%). “All other products”:A majority of the products (58%) comply. The main reason for disqualification: sodium (77%), SAFA (31%). In the last two food groups the products that contain less added fat were disqualified due to the fact that the sodium criterion is based on units of mg/Kcal. Unique Israeli food which do not fit in the current Choices criteria scheme Hummus spreads in Israel

  17. The proposal made by the Israeli scientific committee: The criteria for the hummus subgroup will be based on the "all other products" group: >This group Includes salad spreads >The SAFA criterion is stricter than that in the “oils & spreads” group. The best products which contain less fat, less sodium and less energy (hummus light) do not qualify when evaluated according to the present sodium criterion (1.6 mg/Kcal).> The sodium criterion should be set specifically for the hummus subgroup Hummus spreads in Israel • These products are to be evaluated according to the “all others” food group, but with a change of the sodium reference and consider sodium as amount per 100g(400 mg/100g) instead of mg per Kcal ( this will result in 26% of the products qualifying ) • This allows for the best Hummus products in the market only to qualify while relying on the current Choices system, without the need to develop a unique food group for this product category.

  18. Hummus spreads in Israel

  19. Hummus spreads in Israel

  20. Breakfast cereals Proposal for adjusting the Choices criteria to Israel • Breakfast cereals are very common products in Israel and are consumed by both adults and children. • In 9 out of 10 households cereal is consumed for breakfast on a daily basis. • 80 products have been analyzed, from the main producers : • Unilever, Nestle, Kellog’s, Monday, Shufersol (PL), Quaker, Marmolight • Of the products reviewed divided 50% adults and 50% are children cereals. • These represent almost all products with available nutrition information

  21. Granola & Cereals Market in Israel • Granola segment is 7% of the cereal market. • Granola Penetration rate – 30% • Cereals (without Granola) Penetration rate- 86% (April Mat 2009) • It’s seems that every one who buys Cereals buys also Granola.

  22. Breakfast cereals in Israel • Sodium content vary from as low as 0.5 to as high as 730 mg/100g. • Most products contain 200 - 500 mg/100g. • Sugar content varies widely from as low as 1 to as high as 50 g/100g. • The products targeted for children contain more sugar.> more than 22 g/100g.> average 33 g/100g (19 g/100g for adults’ products). Adults’ average Children's average

  23. Breakfast cereals in Israel • Sugar - technological importance • Sugar has a technological importance in the manufacturing of breakfast cereals. • The sugar assists in acquiring the typical texture of breakfast cereals.manufacturing by extrusion requires 7-10 g/100g sugar (not including the sugar coating) in order to achieve crunchiness and prevent softening in milk. • The coating syrup used for the external sweetening also contains sugar (mostly common in children's products). The external coating adds 12 to 40 additional grams of sugar per 100 gram product. The demand for children's products is to be sweeter and therefore they contain high levels of sugar.

  24. Breakfast cereals in Israel Evaluation according to the Choices groups: Grain group:All products were disqualified. The main reason for disqualification: sodium and sugar (94%) Bread group: Only 6% qualified.The main reason for disqualification: sugar (94%) Snacks group: Only 3% qualified.The main reason for disqualification: energy (78%) and sugar (77%) none of the products targeted at children qualified. Common Israeli food which does not fit in the current Choices criteria scheme It is necessary to create a new product subgroup.

  25. Breakfast Cereals • Other nutritional labeling programs in the world: • Two programs were reviewed, the American “Smart choices” and the Swedish “Keyhole”: • Regarding sugar and sodium: • the American program ("Smart-Choices“) is the less strict of the two. • The breakfast cereal groups in both programs are less strict than the Choices grains food group. • Sodium and sugar criteria, which were the main reason for disqualification of products, should be modified. • These modified criteria can be based on the bread product group, which are similar to the grains group criteria in the fat and fiber criteria but are less strict in the sodium criterion. Recently, another program was reviewed, the Finish “Heart symbol”. This program also sets more lenient sugar criterion with regards to the current choices criterion.

  26. Breakfast Cereals • Other nutritional labeling programs in the world: • In order to asses the possible sugar criterion, the products were evaluated according to the Choices bread products criteria while sugar levels were taken from other programs:- "Keyhole" cereals group (13 g/100g) sugar criterion: only 9% of the products qualify (no children product).- “Smart Choices" cereals group (40 g/100g) criterion: 24% of the products qualified (including some products targeted at children). only 7% were disqualified due to sugar levels. • A practical sugar criterion can be set somewhere in-between the two programs (Keyhole and Smart-Choice) in order to stimulate industry to reduce sugar levels especially in cereals targeted at children.

  27. Breakfast cereals in Israel • Conclusions: • Sugar and salt have an important tasteand technological role in breakfast cereal and are the most important yet complicated target for stimulation of product improvement and product development. • As regards children targeted products, sugar is the most challenging nutrient to target. • Currently, the bread criterion for sugar is too remote from market situation in breakfast cereals (none of the products targeted at children qualified) • We suspect that in Israel there is a unique situation where sugar levels in a selected number of breakfast cereals targeted at children are lower then elsewhere, and are limited to one manufacturer's products only (Unilever).

  28. Breakfast cereals in Israel • Israel’s suggestions: • These suggestions are based on the bread products criteria but with a modified sugar criterion • Option 1 - 18 g/100g sugar:qualification of 14% of the products (none of the “children's products”). • Option 2 - less strict sugar criterion (22 g/100g): qualification of 18% of the total products, including only one children's product,and 32% of the adult's products. • Option 3 - midrange between the "Keyhole" and the "Smart Choices" sugar criterion (28 g/100g): qualification of 20% of the total products, including only one children's product, and 37% of the adult's products. • The only children's product which qualified (Shugi protein, Uniliver) contains artificial sweeteners, which is needed in order to meet the demand from such a product (sweet).

  29. Breakfast cereals in Israel • Israel’s suggestion- the principles: • Setting the criteria should be done so that products for all consumer populations will be represented (children & adults). • It is recommended to maintain all breakfast cereals as one category. • A need for educating consumers to consume less sweet products, and purchase improved products, therefore avoiding criteria that will result in usage of sugar substitutes, which keep sweetness high and is not perceived as acceptable by parents.

  30. Breakfast cereals in Israel • Israel’s recommended suggestions : • Options 2 and 3 seem to be the practical options. > The criteria in these options are challenging (only 1 product targeted at children qualified) • Option 2 - a great challenge for manufacturers since current sugar levels are much higher. > low acceptance of products with different taste due to decreasing sugar levels or adding artificial sweeteners. • Option 3 – less strict. > it may allow gradual shift to the development of better children's breakfast cereals. • It is suggested that as a first step, a challenging criterion will be set, but without forcing manufacturers to use artificial sweeteners – suggestion 3 (28g/ 100g sugar). > The goal is that in the future this criterion will be lowered to 22 g/100g sugar

  31. Breakfast cereals in Israel

  32. Breakfast cereals in Israel • Appendix - Assessment of the added sugar daily intake according to the suggested criteria: • In order to check the compliance of the criteria suggested to the recommended nutritional intake there is a need to evaluate their influence on the total daily intake of added sugar. • When evaluating according to even the most lenient suggested criteria it was found that the maximal daily energy intake from added sugar was less than the upper limit (< 25 en%) as set by the US Institute of Medicine. • Calculation of maximal sugar levels for snacks (applying product specific sugar criterion: 20 g/100g): • • Per 100g, a snack may contain 20 g sugar. For a 45 g snack, this will be 9 g sugar • • 3 times a day a sweet snack x 9 g sugar = 27 g sugar from snacks • Calculation of maximal sugar levels for breakfast cereals (applying product specific sugar criterion: 28 g/100g): • • Per 100g, cereals may contain 28 g sugar. For a 30 g serve, this will be 8.4 g sugar • Sugar from the rest of the diet (applying the generic added sugar criterion: <13 en%): • • Total energy intake (2000 kcal – 330kcal (snacks) – 33.6kcal (cereals) = 1600 kcal of which 13 en% of added sugar (generic criterion): 52 g sugar • Maximal daily energy intake from added sugar in diet: • • 27 g + 8.4 g + 52 g= 87.4 g (x 4 kcal) = 349.6 kcal • • = 17.5% of total daily energy (2000kcal), which is below the IOM upper limit (25 %energy)

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