Nutritional quality of prepackaged foods carrying health or nutritional claims in KSA

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the nutritional quality of products carrying health or nutritional claims to protect consumers from being misled and to ensure that they are provided with accurate information about food products that are associated with health or nutritional claims. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional survey of 1153 foods that were randomly sampled from 14 stores in Riyadh, KSA. The data were collected from nutritional facts presented on food labels and evaluated by comparing the mean level of nutrients between products that featured claims and those that did not use the UK nutrient profile model (UKNPM). RESULTS: Overall, 29% of products carried either health or nutritional claims. Only 19.2% of foods that carried health claims met Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) requirements, while 28.9% of all products that carried nutritional claims met SFDA criteria; however, the analysis indicated that products that carried health or nutritional claims were significantly lower in sugar (9.67 g/100 g), fat (9.2 g/100 g), saturated fat (3.2 g/100 g), and sodium (371.36 mg/100 g). According to the UKNPM, 46.9% of the products carrying claims were less healthy than those not carrying claims, and statistically significant differences were observed by product origin and category (p < 0.005 and p < 0.000, respectively). CONCLUSION: The current representation of unregulated claims on food products may mislead the consumer. There is an urgent need for government legislation that limits their use except under certain conditions for the optimal protection of the population's health.