Can food labels make us healthier?

Across a fair chunk of Europe, we've grown used to seeing little traffic light symbols on our food packets that supposedly rate the healthiness of our food. But why might Dominic's chamomile tea get a Nutri-Score rating of C, when a diet cola gets an A? And does Giorgia Meloni have a point in claiming that the ratings are biased against Italians? This week we ring up Alie de Boer, an expert on all things food labelling, to demystify the Nutri-Score system once and for all. We're also talking about why Georgia's at a crossroads between Russia and the EU, and why it's such a scary moment in German politics.

Alie is an assistant professor of nutrition and food law at Maastricht University's Venlo campus. You can watch her excellent video about Nutri-Score here.

This week's Inspiration Station offerings: Marina Abramović's new exhibition and Desert Island Discs interview; Gugelhupf.

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Other resources for this episode:

'Is Georgian Dream Digging Its Own Grave?' - Transitions, May 2024 https://tol.org/client/article/is-georgian-dream-digging-its-own-grave.html

'Are right-wing populists more likely to justify political violence?' - European Consortium for Political Research, March 2024 https://ejpr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-6765.12668?af=R

'How Italian "food nationalism" has blocked Nutri-Score nutrition labelling system in Europe' - Mediapart, January 2024 https://www.mediapart.fr/en/journal/international/060124/how-italian-food-nationalism-has-blocked-nutri-score-nutrition-labelling-system-europe

00:23 A delicious, digestible bowl of European news

02:52 Good week: Georgia's brave protesters

09:43 Bad week: German democracy

21:10 Interview: Alie de Boer on how those Nutri-Score labels on your food actually work

37:51 The Inspiration Station: Marina Abramović and gugelhupf

42:52 Happy Ending: The European Seagull Screeching Championship

Producers: Morgan Childs and Katy Lee

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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Episode Transcript

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