Nutri-Score and Yuka : A Decade of Lobbying to Undermine Consumer Information

A white paper co-authored by Julie Chapon, Serge Hercberg, and Mathilde Touvier

For the first time, Yuka’s co-founder and the two researchers behind Nutri-Score and its scientific validation bring their experiences together. Two very different tools, an independent app and a public health label, yet both have faced the same attacks and the same rhetoric, often from the same actors.

Drawing on a wide range of sources, including scientific studies, court decisions, parliamentary documents, and investigative journalism, this white paper documents seven tactics the food industry has used for more than a decade to undermine these two tools. It is a playbook first honed by the tobacco industry, then by the sugar industry, and now being applied to food transparency.

These strategies come at a cost even when they fail: lobbying does not need to win to be effective; it only needs to delay. Documenting these tactics makes them easier to recognize.