Last Saturday the Executive published the Advertising Warning Manual (Manual de Advertencias Publicitarias) that explains the measures, characteristics, and details that the octagons of the Healthy Eating Law must bear.
With this document, companies will need to adapt their products – processed and ultra-processed – to avoid causing diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular problems, and others, that are associated with high levels of sugar, saturated fat, sodium, and trans fat.
“With this publication, the implementation process of the Healthy Eating Law and its regulations is now complete. There is nothing left to do. The Government and the Ministry of Health fulfilled their role and finished the process. Now there is only a period in which companies should adapt”, said former Congressman Jaime Delgado, promoter of the law in 2013, according to La República.
The deadline established for the food industries to adapt allows sufficient time for them to reformulate their products and eliminate the content that can be harmful to the health.
As for the octagons, the Consumer Defense Commission still intends to eliminate them for a new system that fuses the Daily Dietary Guidelines (GDA) and a traffic light code, explained La República.
Nevertheless, former Minister Ugarte clarified that with the octagons, the information will be clear for purchasing decisions. “The law is not prohibitive. If a citizen wants to eat ‘high in fat’, he can do it”, he said to the media.
