Family business Berief Food has set itself new sustainability goals and aims to achieve a Nutri-Score of A or B for 80% of its organic foods by 2025, in order to support customers when shopping with more transparency when shopping and thus make a contribution to a healthier diet.
Berief Food was founded in 1985, initially creating products exclusively made from soybeans. In the last decades, the tofu pioneer has expanded its range to include plant-based drinks and yogurts – mainly soy and oat-based – which currently make up the largest part of the product range. The raw materials come mainly from Germany, Austria and the EU.
“We were one of the first manufacturers ever to commit to the Nutri-Score. At that time, the topic was still largely unknown in Germany,” says Bernd Eßer, Managing Director of Berief.
“Because we are convinced that this system helps people to be more to eat more consciously and healthily, now comes our next step – we are putting all of our products, without exception, to internal checks and are constantly developing them further in order to achieve an even better Nutri-Score. The important thing is that the taste remains. Berief stands for a responsible approach to people and nature. The commitment to the Nutri-Score is therefore only logical.”
Nutri-Score is a food evaluation system that has already been successfully tested in the EU, based on food ingredients. These have a favourable or unfavourable effect on health – and thus also on the Nutri-Score. Basically; proteins, fibre, fruit, vegetables and nuts improve the Nutri-Score. Sugar, saturated fatty acids, salt and factors such as energy and factors such as energy content (i.e. calories) worsen the result. score. The contents are evaluated according to a point system.
This results in the classification in the “food traffic light” of dark green (A) as “healthy” food to red (E) as “unhealthy” food. Put simply, sugar and fat lead to a devaluation towards D and E. With this bold nutritional labelling, the Nutri-Score provides a simple and quick provides a simple and quick orientation aid when shopping. The pioneers of the system are France and Belgium. There are already positive effects of the introduction of the Nutri-Score: high-quality, healthier foods are bought noticeably more often.
Notably, if a company decides to use the Nutri-Score, all products must be labelled with it. It is not possible to select only select those that receive an attractive Nutri-Score in order to distinguish themselves selectively. “This is probably also the reason why many manufacturers are still holding back,” says the MD.
“We at Berief believe that our health is so strongly linked to nutrition that we have to with nutrition that we have to act. For this reason, nutritional value and ingredient information on the packaging. We also rely on the Nutri-Score illustration. We would like to accompany and support them in their choice of food with the highest degree of transparency.”
