The emergence of nutrition warning labels in Latin America

Over the last decade, Latin American (and not European) countries have become leaders in the emerging policy field of front-of-pack nutrition labelling. Recommended by public health experts and the World Health Organization, nutrition labelling seeks to improve the healthiness of population diets and thereby reduce the incidence of overweight and obesity and associated chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and heart diseases. In 2011, Chile passed the world’s first comprehensive nutrition labelling law and now prohibits school sales and daytime advertisement of any product labeled “high in” sugar, salt, saturated fats, or calories. Ecuador introduced a mandatory traffic-light labelling scheme in 2014, while Peru, Uruguay, and Mexico all introduced Chile-style warning labels since 2018. Several other Latin American countries, including Argentina and Brazil, are currently in the process of introducing front-of-pack nutrition warning labels. In stark contrast, European countries failed to introduce mandatory nutrition labelling and the European Union even banned its member states from doing so in 2011. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay, this paper traces and explains the emergence of nutrition warning labels in Latin America, highlighting the influence of problem pressure, learning, and government ideology in this episode of regional policy innovation.