(São Paulo, Brazil and New York, United States) – A new national campaign in Brazil is calling for the approval of clear, front-of-pack nutritional warning labels, currently under consideration by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa). The “The Right to Know” campaign was developed by The Alliance for Adequate and Healthy Eating (Aliança pela Alimentação Adequada e Saudável), (The Alliance) in support of a black triangle warning label model, which provides clear front of package warnings on products that are high in fat, salt or sugar. The model is similar to models adopted recently in Chile, Peru and Uruguay.
“Half of Brazil’s population is overweight or obese, contributing to an epidemic of diabetes, heart disease and other chronic diseases,” said Pedro De Paula, Country Director of Vital Strategies’ Brazil Office in Sao Paulo. “Knowledge gives people the power to make healthier choices. The proposed black triangle warning label system is a cost effective way to make information about the nutrition content in food much more clear and easily understood. We applaud The Alliance for adopting an engaging campaign to build support for a food labelling model that could help to reduce Brazil’s obesity epidemic and save lives.”
The “The Right to Know” campaign was developed by The Alliance with technical support from Vital Strategies. It features the testimonials of eight people, including Fabiano Luder, a 42 year old type-2 diabetes patient.
The campaign will air for four weeks on television, radio and digital media channels, and will be promoted on billboards, in print and online.
For further information or to arrange an interview with a Vital Strategies public health expert, please contact press@vitalstrategies.org.
About the Alliance for Adequate and Healthy Eating
The Alliance for Adequate and Healthy Eating is a coalition composed of more than 30 civil society organizations such as the Brazilian Institute of Consumer Rights (Idec), ACT Health Promotion, Federal Nutritionists Council (CFN), and professionals, associations, social movements and individuals, including researchers from the largest universities in the country, with the objective of developing and strengthening collective actions that contribute to the realization of the Human Right to Adequate Eating through the advance in public policies to guarantee the food and nutritional security and food sovereignty in Brazil.
About Vital Strategies
Vital Strategies, headquartered in New York City, is an international public health organization. Our programs strengthen public health systems and address the world’s leading causes of illness, injury and death. We currently work in 73 countries, supporting data-driven decision making in government, advancing evidence-based public health policies and mounting strategic communication campaigns. Vital Strategies’ priorities are driven by the greatest potential to improve and save lives. They include non-communicable disease prevention, cardiovascular health promotion, tobacco control, road safety, obesity prevention, epidemic prevention, environmental health, vital statistics systems building and Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis treatment research. Our programs are concentrated in low- and middle-income countries and cities in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific. Please visit our website at vstrategystage.wpengine.com to find out more about our work.
The Obesity Prevention Program became the Food Policy Program in 2020.