Zimbabwe plans new warning labels for unhealthy foods

Zimbabwe is considering introducing colour-coded nutrition labels on packaged foods to help parents and caregivers quickly identify products containing high levels of sugar, salt and fat as the Government moves to strengthen regulation of unhealthy foods and their marketing to children.

The proposed system would use familiar traffic-light colours, with green indicating healthier choices, amber advising consumers to exercise caution and red warning that a product contains high levels of nutrients of concern.

The proposal is part of wider efforts to improve food labelling and protect children from unhealthy diets.

Chj Chikanda, a nutritionist with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, said existing regulations already provide safeguards around foods marketed to children, while broader legislation is being reviewed.

"We have policies that we have in place. The recently gazetted Public Health (Breast-milk Substitutes, Infant and Young Child Nutrition) Regulations, S.I. 192 of 2024, stipulate the types of foods that can be marketed and sold for children's feeding purposes," Chikanda said.

She said the Government was also seeking to strengthen provisions relating to nutritional information and the marketing of unhealthy foods.

"This is also part of the larger Public Health Act that looks at issues of food labelling, to say what is contained in this food. Foods that are high in fat, high in sugar and high in salt should not be aggressively marketed to children," she said.

Zimbabwe already requires packaged foods to carry information such as ingredients and other product details, while subsequent amendments have strengthened requirements concerning nutrition claims and the declaration of certain ingredients.

However, a 2024 UNICEF-supported assessment of packaged foods in Zimbabwe identified significant gaps in nutrition information and recommended mandatory front-of-package labelling, together with tighter restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy products.

The assessment found that packaged foods were predominantly ultra-processed and frequently contained high levels of nutrients of concern, including sugar, sodium and saturated fat.

Chikanda said one of the objectives of the proposed colour-coded system was to make nutritional information understandable to ordinary consumers.

"People at times do not understand the language that is written on the food labels," she said.

"But if we say, for example, green to say this is good food, you can go for it; if it has amber or yellow, it says this is processed, consume with caution; and if it has red, it means it has high sugar content, for example."

The Government is considering the system as part of a review of Zimbabwe's food standards legislation, which could ultimately result in the existing Food and Food Standards Act being replaced by a broader Food Safety Act.

"We have it in our plans as we review the Food and Food Standards Act to become the Food Safety Act, to actually say how food should be labelled," Chikanda said.

The proposed reforms could also target advertising and promotion, particularly through social media and other digital platforms increasingly used by food manufacturers and retailers to reach younger consumers.

"We want to make sure that people who are now using social media and other various media to advertise and market their foods will also be limited," she said.

The proposed measures come amid growing concern over children's exposure to highly processed and energy-dense foods.

Chikanda said school-going children were increasingly attracted to snacks and convenience foods that can contain excessive amounts of sugar, salt and fat.

Frequent consumption of such products can contribute to obesity and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and other non-communicable diseases later in life.

The debate reflects a broader international concern over the growing consumption of ultra-processed foods and the way such products are formulated and marketed.

The World Health Organization has identified unhealthy diets as an important driver of non-communicable diseases and has advocated measures aimed at reducing consumption of foods and beverages high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats.

Zimbabwe has already introduced taxes targeting sugar and fast food as part of efforts to address the country's growing non-communicable disease burden.

For Chikanda, however, regulation must be accompanied by better information so that consumers can make informed choices.

"If we can make it easier for parents and caregivers to see that this product is high in sugar, high in salt or high in fat, they can make an informed decision," she said.

The proposed traffic-light system would consequently provide consumers with an immediate visual indication of a product's nutritional profile, potentially allowing shoppers to identify foods high in nutrients of concern without having to interpret complex nutritional tables.

If adopted, the measure would mark a significant shift towards front-of-package nutrition warnings in Zimbabwe and could also place greater restrictions on how unhealthy foods are marketed, particularly to children.