Latest news with #Nutri-Score
Local France
23-05-2025
- General
- Local France
Tartiflette and pastis: The French crisp brand making taste all its own
You'll see Brets crisps taking up a fair chunk of the space on the crisp/potato chips aisle of your local supermarket. And while they do the standard salted, salt and vinegar and roast chicken flavours, they're also not afraid to try something a little different. And that has made them a hit with under-35s in France (and Quebec, where they are also sold) spawning viral tasting videos on social media. We're not just talking basic variations on the theme of traditional flavours here, either – though their cheddar and Roscoff onions is a worthy cheese and onion upgrade. They have done some properly off-the-wall taste sensations. Or otherwise. Advertisement There's wood-fired pizza flavour, yakitori – based on the Japanese skewered chicken; 'petit onions'; a spicy pili pili (a variant spelling of piri piri); jalapeno cheddar – aka cheese and onion for crisp fans with a sense of adventure; cheddar and beer; Carbonara; sundried tomato and balsamic vinegar; pesto-mozarella; falafel; kebab; grilled peppers and chorizo; curry sauce; chili and mint, for that indescribable hot-cold mouth sensation; fruity curry; mustard pickles; honey mustard; and sweet-and-salty flavours. They even do crisps that have a Nutri-Score B rating for healthy people who don't like 'goût'. This has been a marketing masterstroke. Brets is now the second most popular crisp brand in France, with an 18 percent market share. But what about the particularly French flavours? Pastis: yes, there's a pastis flavour Brets, invoking the popular French drink of the same name. The drink tastes of aniseed and licorice, and we're not at all sure about the necessary addition of potato slices to that particular – and acquired – taste. Bleu d'Auvergne: not the only Made-in-France cheese flavour that Brets do – there's also a Jura cheese one, a camembert one, a bleu pancetta that mixes the mellow-sharp tang of the Auvergne cheese with the salty Italian charcuterie, and a goat's cheese with espelette peppers. Aligot à l'Aveyronnaise: Aligot is an infinitely superior form of cheesy mash – made by mixing mashed potato with butter, garlic, cream and Laguiole cheese. It's unlikely the crisps are quite as stretchy as the mash after which they're flavoured. Aioli: creamy garlic and olive oil sauce Ceps: Yep. Mushroom flavour. On a thin, deep-fried and cooled slice of potato. Chips de Sarrasin à la Forestière: Buckwheat crisps. With mushrooms. Oh, and herbs. They also do a Guerande salt buckwheat crisp. And a curry cream one, too. To be fair, sarrasin is a very Breton ingredient. But curry isn't. Tartiflette: The hearty winter apres-ski coronary in a meal of potatoes, lardons, onions and reblochon cheese in crisp form. Ail confit et herbes de Provence: A sort of gastro-flavour of garlic cooked slowly in oil or fat with the classic combination of Provencal herbs Advertisement Carbonade Flamande: Admittedly, the traditional beef-in-beer classic is a Belgian original – but it's a popular dish in northern France, too, so we're claiming it, just as Brets have to make a crisp flavour. No wonder the online taste tests are so popular. Lists and rankings are astonishingly successful online practice these days. And it's easy to imagine some of these flavours – looking at you, pastis – are created solely to create a social media buzz. It hasn't always been completely successful. One online poll of possible future flavours included an option for 'petrol'. To the surprise of precisely no one, that one never made it into production – its inclusion in the poll was later attributed to an error by 'an intern'.
Local France
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Local France
France's ex-PM calls ‘state of emergency' over children's screen use
The call – from former prime minister and current centrist party leader Gabriel Attal and child psychologist Marcel Rufo – came after French medical experts advised that children under the age of six should not be exposed to screens, including TV, in an open letter to the government . The current recommendation in France is that children under the age of three should not be exposed to screens, and only 'occasional use' between the ages of three and six in the presence of an adult. Meanwhile, children in nearly 200 collèges have been involved in a pilot ban on mobile phones, in which the devices – which should be turned off, anyway – are handed in at the start of the school day and returned at the end of it. Advertisement This ban is set to be rolled out nationwide at the start of the new school year in September. READ ALSO 'Digital pause': France pilots school mobile phone ban The use of "a mobile phone or any other electronic communications terminal equipment" has been banned in nurseries, ecoles primaires (primary schools) and collèges in France since 2018. The experts' open letter and Attal and Rufo's joint declaration, published in Le Figaro, goes further and demands restrictions on screen use outside school hours, and in the home. 'If we do nothing, screens and their content will slowly kill our youth and, ultimately, our entire society,' warn Attal and Rufo, exactly a year after a report produced by experts commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron expressed concern about the consequences of overexposure to screens on children's health and development. The commission also recommended a ban on screen use for children under three and said that mobile phones for children aged from 11 should not have internet access. Attal and Rufo, however, propose creating an 'assessment interview' for screen addiction for children aged 11 as they head into their collège years – and again at age 15, for students going to lycée after completing their brevet exams. They also suggested that age limits on social media sites, similar to those imposed on adult content, could be introduced to prohibit access to social networks by those under 15, while a 'digital curfew' should prevent access to networks between 10pm and 8am for anyone aged between 15 and 18. READ ALSO EXPLAINED: How to get a mobile phone contract in France They added that social network sites should 'go black-and-white' after 30 minutes of use, to reduce their attractiveness, and that access should be restricted to one hour for anyone under the age of 18. Advertisement 'Even China does it with TikTok,' Attal and Rufo argued, 'for once, let's take inspiration from what this country is doing!' And they also suggested that apps and platforms should come with a readily available 'addict-score' rating, inspired by on the Nutri-Score model – and propose that two percent of revenue generated by platforms' activity in France go to funding mental health research and care. A commission of inquiry into the psychological effects of social media site TikTok on minors has been launched in the Assembly.
Local France
14-03-2025
- Health
- Local France
Nutri-Score: France backs strict new food-labelling
The more stringent rules will, authorities believe, will make it easier for consumers to differentiate between foods based on their salt and sugar content. 'In view of the imperative public health issues at stake, the ministers have decided to sign the decree amending the rules for calculating the Nutri-Score,' reads a joint press release from the the Economy, Health, Agriculture and Trade ministers. It is above all a question of 'combating obesity', which leads to 'problems as serious as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and certain cancers', France's Minister for Health Catherine Vautrin, said on TF1 on Friday morning. In February, a report by consumer watchdog 60 millions de consommateurs – using data from thousands of products – claimed that numerous supermarkets' own-brand products were more likely to contain potentially harmful additives, including higher levels of sugar and salt, emulsifiers, nitrates, and antioxidants. Designed by nutrition specialists, the Nutri-Score system was implemented in 2017 in France, on a voluntary basis, and in six other European countries. This system classifies food products from A to E based on their composition and nutritional value. Nutritional labelling, banning advertising for sweet, savory, and fatty foods, and taxing sugary drinks are 'the most effective public policies against overweight and obesity,' according to a July 2024 study by the service statistique des ministères sociaux. But this new version of the Nutri-Score nutritional label was criticised last week by Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard – because of how it would affect popular French produce including cheese and charcuterie. And ministers warned in their joint statement that they will remain 'vigilant to [possible] side effects' that this updated system may 'create for produce resulting from French expertise'. As a result, ministries concerned will be asked to study these potential 'side effects' and 'initiate discussions at European level to see how they can be better taken into account'. While the French health ministry has encouraged its use, ultimately it is the decision of food companies as to whether they wish to employ Nutri-Score ratings. The EU has discussed making the label compulsory, but as of 2024 a consensus had not yet been reached. Companies and brands that do use it have 'two years to update their packaging and affix the new Nutri-Score'.
