The Colombian Dairy Processors Association (Asoleche) has criticized the Ministry of Health and Social Protection's draft resolution on nutritional and frontal labeling for 2026. The group says the proposal would prevent products with warning seals from highlighting positive attributes like calcium or probiotics. Asoleche calls for corrections to conceptual errors to ensure complete consumer information.
The Colombian Dairy Processors Association (Asoleche) addressed the impact of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection's draft resolution on nutritional and frontal labeling. While supporting the goal of better informing consumers, the group argues the current design limits communication of nutritional properties on products with warning seals.
Asoleche cited yogurt with pectina, a natural fruit thickener, as an example. Under the proposal, it would carry a warning seal and could not highlight components like calcium, protein, vitamin D, or probiotics, conflicting with the Consumer Statute by restricting truthful and transparent information.
The association challenged equating individual food analysis with eating habits, noting nutrition depends on consumption patterns, portion sizes, and individual conditions. Processes like pasteurization, UHT treatment, and controlled fermentation preserve nutritional properties in dairy products such as yogurt, cheese, and kefir.
"Asoleche does not oppose warning labeling. It supports consumers' right to clear and complete information. What it rejects is a regulation that indiscriminately applies the same visual alarm to radically different nutritional realities," the group stated.
Ana María Gómez Montes, Asoleche's president, said: "a public policy that, in the name of health, discourages consumption of nutritionally valuable foods becomes a tool of signaling or discrimination." She warned it could influence household choices without adequate substitution by other nutrient-rich foods.
