What is this “Origin-Score” that the government wants to put in place ?

In the midst of an agricultural crisis, the government is proposing a tool to make the origin of food products more transparent.

As farmers' protests regain intensity &agrav; On the occasion of the Agricultural Show which opens its doors this Saturday, February 24, the government is promising answers and solutions to the problem. the agricultural crisis. In particular, he is working on the development of a tool that would provide better transparency on the origin of food products and would make it possible to highlight local products. of French origin, a promise made by Gabriel Attal to the agricultural unions at the beginning of February. based on the Nutri-Score model which assigns a score to food products based on their nutritional intake, the new system is presented under the name Origin-Score.

The Minister Delegate é Consumption, Olivia Grégoire, who oversees the project, wishes to open discussions for the implementation of this indicator. On Sud Radio this Thursday, February 22, the minister defended this idea by arguing that there needs to be more transparency on products that are said to be “processed”. ;quot;. This initiative indeed seems to be in line with consumer expectations. As relayed by Ouest-France, a 2023 study by the En verité shows that 86% of consumers surveyed are attentive to their needs. the origin of the food products they buy. This same study underlines that the French would like more ;indications regarding pesticides present in food products. More than a guarantee on the origin and quality of the product. products, a tool like Origin-Score allows a better understanding of the price of products, according to Olivia Grégoire.

Another objective of this "Origin-Score" would be to highlight products whose real origin does not comply with the standards set out in this document. that indicated on the packaging. The General Directorate for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Repression (DGCCRF) recently carried out a investigation & This subject in different supermarkets. Of the 1,000 supermarkets controlled by the organization, 372 present a lack of consistency between the origin of the product and the information displayed. Olivia Gr&eac;goire underlinedé that 70 of these defects constitute “serious” misconduct. The ministry's office detailed that these non-compliances with the legislation would represent a "will" to conceal the origin of the products and less one "forgetfulness" or "negligence". These faults could be registered as criminal offenses.

L'Origine-Score in place as of this summeré ?

The implementation of such a tool requires extensive work which will also have to go through the hands of the European Union. firstly, Olivia Grégoire indicatedé that a meeting should be organized at mid-March with manufacturers, distributors and consumer associations in order to define a framework for action. For the moment, an experiment will be available for voluntary brands and could be implemented as early as this summer. According to the Ministry of the Economy, the Origin-Score will then impose itself: "Those who go there' ;adopt quickly are actors of which almost all of the ingredients are of French origin (…) But this will then be adoptedé by other companies, because if some display it and others do not, the consumer will necessarily question the origin of the product on which nothing ;#39;is mentioned.

Two brands stand out for the moment. The presidents of the Leclerc and Système U groups have been supportive &agrav; the implementation of the tool. On X, David Garbous, president of the En Vérité collective, shared a first idea for a logo for this new tool. The Origin-Score could take the form of a circular graph breaking it down' 39;origin of the product (France, Europe, etc). According to the collective, 60 brands have declared themselves in favor of the use of Origin-Score.