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The present study aimed to evaluate the nutrient profile of packaged foods marketed in Brazil, giving insights into healthiness of the Brazilian supermarket packaged food environment, considering different food categories and levels of industrial food processing and presence of nutrition and health claims and marketing strategies. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on the labels of pre-packed foods marketed in a home-shopping website. A stratified random sample (n = 335) was obtained to be analysed by four nutrient profile models: Food Standards Australia New Zealand's Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion, UK Nutrient Profile from the Food Standards Agency, Nutrient profile model from Pan American Health Organization, and Nutrition Score from Unilever Food & Health Research (Unilever). Overall, the models shown agreement, besides some differences in the levels of approval. Ultra-processed foods were less healthy. Pass rates for products carrying nutrition and/or health claims have evidenced the presence of these claims may be indicative of slightly better nutritional quality. This did not apply for products with and without marketing techniques. These findings highlight the need for improvement of the supermarket packaged food environment in scenarios like Brazil by increasing efforts to reformulate products to make them healthier, together with appropriate food labelling regulation.

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Reductions on the sugars content of the food supply have been described after the initial implementation Chilean Labeling Law, but it is unclear if sugars were replaced by non-caloric sweeteners (NNS). We evaluated changes in the NNSs use in foods and beverages after the initial implementation of the labeling law. We used longitudinal data on packaged foods and beverages collected in six major supermarkets and three candy distributors in Santiago, Chile, in January-February 2015/2016 and in January-February 2017. We included in the analysis beverages, dairy-based beverages, yogurts, breakfast cereals, desserts and ice creams, candies and sweet confectioneries, and sweet spreads with a market share ≥1% of their food groups (n = 999). We compared the use of any NNS, the number of different NNSs used, and the combined use of NNSs and ingredients adding sugars using non-parametric tests for matched samples. We evaluated the association between a reduction in sugars and starting NNS use in the post-implementation period using negative binomial regression. The use of any NNS increased from 37.9 to 43.6% (p < 0.001) after the law's implementation, NNSs increased among beverages, dairy-based beverages, yogurts, and desserts and ice creams (p < 0.05), driven mostly by increases in sucralose and stevia use (p < 0.05). We found that reformulated products that reduced the amount of sugars below the law's cutoff were more likely to start using an NNS in the post-implementation period (prevalence ratio: 12.1; 95%CI: 7.2-20.2; p < 0.001). Our results suggest that NNSs likely replaced sugars after the initial implementation of the law. Further analyses should explore how these changes may impact NNS consumption.

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Global public policies have advocated strategies for reducing sodium consumption due to the high incidence of non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) worldwide. The objectives of this study were to identify the bread loaves sodium content considered as ideal by the consumers and determine hedonic thresholds. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 114 consumers evaluated the ideal sodium content in bread loaves by the Just About Right (JAR) test, (first sensorial stage) studying four decreased levels of sodium (10%, 20%, 30%, 40%) from the mean values observed from bread in 11 food composition tables from various regions of the world, and Brazil. This ideal sodium content was used as the control in pairwise acceptance tests with five other reduced-sodium samples of bread loaves (10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 100% of reduction from the control), and hedonic threshold tests were performed with 156 consumers (a second stage sensorial test of five sessions). The data from the JAR were analyzed by a regression analysis graph and correlated with the consumption of salt and family income range by a Principal Component Analysis with a 5% significance level. In the Hedonic Threshold tests, each paired session was analyzed by Student's t-test (test t), and an adjusted regression graph was built. The Compromised Acceptance Threshold (CAT) was performed, where the calculated t corresponded to the tabulated t. In the Hedonic Rejection Threshold (HRT), the hedonic scale five ("indifferent" term) was considered. The average sodium content of bread marketed in different regions of the world was 457 mg Na/100 g of bread, and the ideal sodium content observed was 395 mg Na/100 g of bread. The gender, age and income family rates as well as attitudes and knowledge regarding the salt consumption of the trial consumers were not directly related to the evaluations of the bread loaves in the JAR test, according to the Principal Components Analysis at p ≤ 0.05. From this ideal content, a 42% reduction was possible according to the CAT test (267 mg Na/100 g of bread), and more reductions were acceptable until an 85% (to 58 mg Na/100 g of bread) reduction, as the samples began to be rejected according to HRT test. These findings demonstrated that this methodology can be applied to sodium reduction product formulations and bread as a food matrix. With this kind of methodology, it is possible to provide to the bakery industry a methodology to know a safe region to work on food reformulations and subsidize the formulation of new products without compromising consumer acceptability, in addition to meeting the demand for safer food.

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The influence of partial replacement of animal fat by healthy oils on composition, physicochemical, volatile, and sensory properties of dry-fermented deer sausage was evaluated. Four different batches were manufactured: the control was formulated with animal fat (18.2%), while in the reformulated batches the 50% of animal fat was substituted by olive, canola, and soy oil emulsions immobilized in Prosella gel. The reformulation resulted in a decrease of moisture and fat contents and an increase of protein and ash amount. Moreover, reformulated sausages were harder, darker, and had higher pH values. This fact is related to the lower moisture content in these samples. As expected, the fatty acid composition was changed by the reformulation. The use of soy and canola oils increased polyunsaturated fatty acids and omega-3 content and decreased n-6/n-3 ratio and saturated fatty acids. Thus, the use of these two oils presented the best nutritional benefits. The changes observed in the fatty acids reflected the fatty acid composition of the oils employed in the emulsions. Regarding volatile compounds (VOC), the replacement of animal fat by healthy emulsion gels increased the content of both total VOC and most of individual VOC. However, the lipid-derived VOC did not show this trend. Generally speaking, the control samples presented similar or higher VOC derived from lipid oxidation processes, which could be related to the natural antioxidant compounds present in the vegetable oils. Finally, all reformulated sausages presented higher consumer acceptability than control samples. In fact, the sausage reformulated with soy oil emulsion gel was the most preferred. Thus, as a general conclusion, the reformulation of deer sausages with soy emulsion gel improves both composition and sensory quality of the final product, which could be an excellent strategy to the elaboration of healthy fermented sausages.

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BACKGROUND: Consumption of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) is becoming increasingly more frequent, particularly in the context of obesity prevention policies. The aim of this study was to describe the consumption of NNS in an ongoing cohort of pre-schoolers (4-6-year-old) before the implementation of the Chilean Food Labelling and Advertising Law, identify sociodemographic and anthropometric characteristics associated with their consumption, and describe the main dietary sources of each NNS sub-type. METHODS: In 959 low-medium income pre-schoolers from the Food and Environment Chilean Cohort (FECHIC), dietary data from a single 24-h recall was linked to NNS content information obtained from packaged foods (n = 12,233). The prevalence of NNS consumption was estimated by food source and characterized by child and maternal sociodemographic and anthropometric variables. Intakes and main dietary sources were described for the six most prevalent NNS in Chile: Sodium Cyclamate, Saccharin, Aspartame, Acesulfame Potassium, Sucralose, and Steviol glycosides. RESULTS: Sixty-eight percent of the pre-schoolers consumed at least one source of NNS on the day of the dietary recall; most of them consumed NNS from foods and beverages (n = 532), while only 12% (n = 119) also consumed table-top sweeteners. The prevalence of NNS consumption was significantly higher among children whose mothers had a high educational level compared to children whose mothers did not complete high school (p < 0.05); however, it did not differ by any other variable studied. The highest intakes of NNS were observed for Aspartame [2.5 (1.4-3.7) mg/kg per consumer], followed by Sodium Cyclamate [1.6 (1.3-2.6) mg/kg per consumer] and Steviol glycosides [1.2 (0.2-2.1) mg/kg per consumer]. Beverages were the only food group that contributed to the intake of the six NNS studied, accounting for 22% of the overall intake of Saccharine and up to 99% of Aspartame intake. CONCLUSIONS: Before the implementation of the Food Labelling and Advertising Law, NNS consumption was highly prevalent among a cohort of low-middle income Chilean pre-schoolers. Continuous monitoring of NNS consumption is essential given potential food reformulation associated with the implementation of this set of obesity-prevention policies.

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This study evaluated the anticipated food and beverage product reformulation by industry before the Chilean Law of Food Labeling and Advertising (Law 20.606) was implemented in June 2016 requiring a front-of-package (FOP) warning label for products high in sodium, total sugars, saturated fats, and/or total energy. Fieldworkers photographed a purposive sample of packaged food and beverage products in February 2015 (n = 5421) and February 2016 (n = 5479) from six different supermarkets in Santiago, Chile. The same products collected in both years (n = 2086) from 17 food and beverage categories with added critical nutrients (nutrients of concern: sodium, total sugars, and saturated fats) were included in this longitudinal study. The average change in energy and critical nutrient content was estimated by category. The number of warning labels potentially avoided because of reformulation was determined. Between February 2015 and February 2016, no category experienced reductions >5% average change in energy or critical nutrient content; and some increased in critical nutrient content. Few products (<2%) would have avoided at least one warning label with reformulation. In a diverse sample of food and beverage products, there was minimal reformulation by industry in anticipation of the implementation of the 2016 Chilean Law of Food Labeling and Advertising.

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Non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, are responsible for over 70% of deaths in Brazil. Currently, over 25% of Brazilian adults are diagnosed as hypertensive; overall, current dietary sodium intake in Brazil (4700 mg/person) is over twice the international recommendations, and 70-90% of adolescents and adults consume excessive sodium. National sodium reduction strategies consider the main dietary sources of sodium to be added salt to foods, foods consumed outside of the household, and sodium in processed foods. The national voluntary strategy for sodium reduction in priority food categories has been continuously monitored over a 6-year period (2011-2017) and there was a significant 8-34% reduction in the average sodium content of over half food categories. Different food categories have undergone differing reductions in sodium over time, aiding gradual biannual targets to allow industries to develop new technologies and consumers to adapt to foods with less salt. By 2017, most products of all food categories had met the regional targets proposed by the Pan American Health Organization, showing that voluntary sodium reduction strategies can potentially contribute to food reformulation. Nevertheless, regulatory approaches may still be necessary in the future in order to reach all food producers and to allow stronger enforcement to meet more stringent regional targets.

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