I came across a story for all you foodies out there – a news story especially of interest to those of you (us!) who love to eat but also care about your health. Discussions set to be held today (mardi, 19 octobre, 2021) will pit some of Europe’s most recognized AOP’s against a European-wide Nutri-Score.

Photo CC0 from www.pexels.com; Twofiqu barbhuia

What’s at stake?

As I’ve covered before, the Nutri-Score is a system “intended to make it plus facile¹easier for shoppers to identify foods that are bon²good from those that are mauvais³bad”. Since it’s original introduction in 2014, the Nutri-score system has been adopted in a number of countries including la France, la Belgique⁴Belgium, L’Espagne⁵Spain, L’Allemagne⁶Germany, Le Luxembourg, Les Pays-Bas⁷The Netherlands, et la Suisse⁸Switzerland and now is up for debate to be generalized across Europe.

But a group of countries (and producers) are opposing the spread of – or asking to be exempt from – a broader application. Italy, leading the charge, has convinced la Grèce⁹Greece, la République-Tchèque¹⁰The Czech Republic et la Roumanie¹¹Romania to join their cause along with the producers of renowned AOP products like “le Roquefort, le parmesan italien et l’huile d’olive espagnole”¹²(French) Roquefort, (Italian) Parmesan, and (Spanish) olive oil.

While the European Union (and supporting nutritionists and scientists) would like to see the food label adopted community-wide by 2024, “[l]es producteurs craignent de voir les ventes chuter. Les études montrent que le Nutri-score diminue les achats de produits gras et sucrés”¹³producers fear seeing sales plummet. Studies show that the Nutri-score reduces sales of products high in fat and sugar

Un nouvel Astérix

Comic books known as les bandes-dessinées were a big part of my learning French. I read (and still read today) the great illustrated stories of Tintin, Spirou et Fantasio, Blake et Mortimer, Lucky Luke, Yoko Tsuno, and Astérix.

Le 21 octobre, Astérix et ses compagnons “[seront] de retour pour une 39e aventure intitulée Astérix et le Griffon”¹⁷On October 21, Asterix and his companions will be back for a 39th adventure called “Asterix and the Griphon” This latest adventure is being released in unprecedented initial printing of 5 million copies around the world! I’ll report back once I get my hands on a copy (and if you beat me to it, share your reactions in the comments below!).

Food and drink in Brittany bis

Astérix: A French Comic for the Whole Family

• 1
  easier
• 2
  good
• 3
  bad
• 4
  Belgium
• 5
  Spain
• 6
  Germany
• 7
  The Netherlands
• 8
  Switzerland
• 9
  Greece
• 10
  The Czech Republic
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  Romania
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  (French) Roquefort, (Italian) Parmesan, and (Spanish) olive oil
• 13
  producers fear seeing sales plummet. Studies show that the Nutri-score reduces sales of products high in fat and sugar
• 14
  Controlled name of origins
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  Protected name of origins
• 16
  For oysters, American producers have coined the term meroir.
• 17
  On October 21, Asterix and his companions will be back for a 39th adventure called “Asterix and the Griphon”