Objectives:The European Union (EU)-funded project Food Labelling to Advance Better Education for Life (FLABEL) aims to understand how nutrition information on food labels affects consumers' dietary choices and shopping behaviour. The first phase of this study consisted of assessing the penetration of nutrition labelling and related information on various food products in all 27 EU Member States and Turkey.Methods:In each country, food products were audited in three different types of retailers to cover as many different products as possible within five food and beverage categories: sweet biscuits, breakfast cereals, pre-packed chilled ready meals, carbonated soft drinks and yoghurts.Results:More than 37 000 products were audited in a total of 84 retail stores. On average, 85% of the products contained back-of-pack (BOP) nutrition labelling or related information (from 70% in Slovenia to 97% in Ireland), versus 48% for front-of-pack (FOP) information (from 24% in Turkey to 82% in the UK). The most widespread format was the BOP tabular or linear listing of nutrition content. Guideline daily amounts labelling was the most prevalent form of FOP information, showing an average penetration of 25% across all products audited. Among categories, breakfast cereals showed the highest penetration of nutrition-related information, with 94% BOP penetration and 70% FOP penetration.Conclusions:Nutrition labelling and related information was found on a large majority of products audited. These findings provide the basis for subsequent phases of FLABEL involving attention, reading, liking, understanding and use by consumers of different nutrition labelling formats.

A range of stakeholders have been involved in the development and implementation of dietary guidelines (DG) across Europe. Seventy-seven semi-structured qualitative interviews explored stakeholders' beliefs of DG in six European countries/regions. A main theme, variation in the interpretation of the term dietary guideline, was identified using thematic analysis. Descriptions of DG varied across stakeholder groups and countries. Reference was made to both food-based and nutrient-based guidelines, including the terms food-based DG and food guides (for example, pyramids), nutrient recommendations, dietary recommendations, dietary reference values and guideline daily amounts. The terminology surrounding DG requires greater clarity. Until that time, stakeholders would benefit from increased awareness of potential misinterpretations and the implications of this on multi-stakeholder, multi-national policy development and implementation.

Objective: The involvement of consumers in the development of dietary guidelines has been promoted by national and international bodies. Yet, few best practice guidelines have been established to assist with such involvement. Design: Qualitative semi-structured interviews explored stakeholders' beliefs about consumer involvement in dietary guideline development. Setting: Interviews were conducted in six European countries: the Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Serbia, Spain and the UK. Subjects: Seventy-seven stakeholders were interviewed. Stakeholders were grouped as government, scientific advisory body, professional and academic, industry or non-government organisations. Response rate ranged from 45 % to 95 %. Results: Thematic analysis was conducted with the assistance of NVivo qualitative software. Analysis identified two main themes: (i) type of consumer involvement and (ii) pros and cons of consumer involvement. Direct consumer involvement (e.g. consumer organisations) in the decision-making process was discussed as a facilitator to guideline communication towards the end of the process. Indirect consumer involvement (e.g. consumer research data) was considered at both the beginning and the end of the process. Cons to consumer involvement included the effect of vested interests on objectivity; consumer disinterest; and complications in terms of time, finance and technical understanding. Pros related to increased credibility and trust in the process. Conclusions: Stakeholders acknowledged benefits to consumer involvement during the development of dietary guidelines, but remained unclear on the advantage of direct contributions to the scientific content of guidelines. In the absence of established best practice, clarity on the type and reasons for consumer involvement would benefit all actors.

Food Labelling to Advance Better Education for Life (FLABEL) is a project funded under the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme. Its objective is to understand how nutrition information on food labels affects dietary choices and consumer habits. Fundamental to this objective is the assessment of current exposure of consumers to nutrition information on food labels. At present, few data exist on the penetration of nutrition information on food labels in Europe, with previous studies involving only a small subset of countries and not looking at all products within a product category (1) . The present study aimed at designing and conducting a reproducible audit, assessing the current penetration of nutrition information on food labels in various product categories in the EU-27 plus Turkey and to identify the major ways in which nutrition information is provided on labels.In each of the twenty-seven EU countries plus Turkey three types of retailers were chosen for the audit: a retailer within the top five in terms of market share; a national retailer or consumer cooperative; a discounter. The product categories examined were sweet biscuits, breakfast cereals, ready meals, carbonated soft drinks and yoghurts. A data collection grid was designed to record where nutrition information occurred on the pack (front of pack v. elsewhere), in which format it was given (e.g. nutrition table), which nutrients were covered and whether nutrition or health claims were present.The majority of products in these five categories in all countries contained nutrition information of some kind (highest in the UK and Republic of Ireland, lowest in Eastern European countries). The most widespread format across all countries was the nutrition table on back of pack, stating either the main four (energy, protein, carbohydrates, fat) or the main eight (main four plus sugar, saturated fat, fibre and salt). Overall, breakfast cereals was the category with the highest penetration of nutrition information. Nutrition claims and guideline daily amounts were the most prevalent front-of-pack forms of nutrition information.Nutrition information was found on a large majority of products audited and its presence seems higher than reported previously (1) . The findings will provide a solid starting ground for subsequent studies involving attention, reading, liking, understanding and use of different nutrition labelling formats.

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