New features in the online product compliance tool

October 5th, 2012

An update has been made to the online system used to assess whether food products comply with the Choices Programme product criteria. The update includes features designed to improve user-friendliness and increase the system’s security.

The most important addition is the ‘Compliance check’ button, which allows participants to see whether the data they have filled in about their product complies with the criteria, prior to the normal certification process. The system does not change, as each participant still needs to submit an official validation request to receive a Choices certificate for its products. The advantage of the new feature however, is that it prevents the unnecessary rejection of products for certification, by allowing participants to correct errors such as spelling or typing mistakes that can sometimes hamper the process.

In addition, as the feature provides an overview of the compliance per relevant nutrient, participants can use it to determine the innovation potential of a product. Indeed, participants can quickly see which of a product’s nutrients are too high or too low in comparison to Choices criteria.

Jaap Seidell presents Choices at US Obesity Society meeting

October 5th, 2012

Professor Jaap Seidell, Chair of the Choices International Scientific Committee, presented the Choices Programme at one of the world’s largest gatherings of obesity professional - the US Obesity Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting held in San Antonio, Texas from 20-24 September 2012. In a parallel symposium dedicated to the theme ‘Front of Package labelling: helpful or confusing?’, Professor Seidell gave a presentation on the Choices Programme methodology, highlighting it as an international, scientifically validated labelling system. Professor Ellen Wartella, Chair of the US Institute of Medicine (IOM) panel on front-of-pack (FOP) labelling, also gave a presentation on the IOM-recommended system. This FOP labelling system largely resembles the Choices Programme, but focuses on the attribution of points based on healthiness rather than on the use of a single logo.

The presentations produced an informative blog on the website of the Scientific American.

For more information on the meeting, please see: http://www.obesity.org/meetings-and-events/annual-meeting.html.

The initiative Vím, co jím took part in a Picnic organized by Albert

October 5th, 2012

Albert organized for their customers an evening picnic in Prague, Brno and Pilsen. The Choices-labelled food in the picnic baskets was accompanied by a “Vím, co jím“ memory game.