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FABLE - Food and Beverages Labels Explorer

Background and methodology

FABLE will allow policy makers, researchers and the public to explore, interact with, and visualise the information collected from food labels across the EU.

Background

High intakes of salt, sugars, total and saturated fats have been linked with higher prevalence of various noncommunicable diseases. However, the actual range of intakes in adults across Europe for all these nutrients of concern is above the recommendations.  

According to WHO, ‘reformulation policies for healthier food and beverage products’ is one of the NCD Best Buys to tackle unhealthy diets. To monitor the evolution/change, there needs to be a systematic collection of data across EU countries, and it needs to be available to the key stakeholders.  

However, currently there is a ‘black box’: no systematic approach to collect and access data to allow a continuous monitoring of the food supply. Industry reports success stories, with no possibility to verify data independently. 

FABLE aims to close this information gap by making data collected on branded food and beverages through EU-funded projects publicly available for researchers, policy makers and the public. Users will be able to interact with, explore and visualise data in an easy way. This will allow for the public monitoring of the food supply across the EU.  

FABLE bridges research with end-users
European Commission

Policy context

What led to the development of FABLE?
European Commission

Data sources

At its launch in Q3 2023, FABLE will be hosting data on branded food and beverage products across 22 European countries collected through EUREMO, JANPA and Best-ReMaP. Its design will allow the addition of data coming from future data collection efforts. ​

Food classification

The classification adopted by Best-ReMaP is used to present the data included in FABLE. 

The Best-ReMaP classification consists of categories and subcategories of food and beverage products. 

It has been designed with the aim of monitoring food reformulation by grouping products with similar sales names, manufacturing technology, recipe or marketing positioning. 

It allows for the identification of margin of reformulation, best-in-class products and for comparing product nutritional composition between countries. 

The Best-ReMaP classification is based on the Oqali one, which was designed by Anses and INRAE and discussed with French stakeholders. During the Joint Action Best-ReMaP, it has been adapted by Anses to fit the European market on the basis of gathered products in JANPA and feedback from ICF that was coordinating the EUREMO project.