Photo: Paolo | Pexels
Chile is the Latin American country with the highest rate of obesity. That prompted Chilean Senator Guido Girardi Lavin to spend nine years pushing for a label system on foods to warn consumers if an item is high in sugar, has high content of saturated fats, high in sodium or high in calories. The law requiring the label system to be implemented passed in 2016, and since then surveys show that the labels have influenced 9 out of 10 Chileans in their purchasing habits. It has also driven companies to reformulate their products and reduce the number of products with the labels. The very visible symbol on the label is an octagon, which looks like a black and white stop sign, was selected by consumers. The Chilean model of food labeling is spreading to other Latin American countries, including Peru and Uruguay, as well as to other parts of the world to help fight obesity.
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