Incidence of traffic light labelling on noncommunicable diseases: a roadmap for achieving sustainable development

Abstract

The production and diversity of the supply of food products has grown exponentially in recent decades, along with the increase in cardiovascular diseases associated with poor diet. Among the factors, one of the most important is the lack of information for the consumer when purchasing. The present work evaluates the impact of implementing the traffic light labelling of foods in reducing deaths due to Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD). Econometric techniques of two-way effects panel data from 21 Ecuadorian provinces taken from official sources for the analysis period 2010-2019. For Ecuador, a favourable impact was found in the reduction of the NCD mortality rate, especially in the last three years; in 2017, it was reduced by 0.129%, in 2018 by 0.305%, and in 2019 by 0.289%. An implication of economic policy is the advertising regulation of products that may affect health, strengthening surveillance and sanctioning companies that fail to comply with the regulation.

Keywords:

• Traffic light labelling
• information and product quality
• noncommunicable diseases
• mortality
• public policy

JEL code:

• C33
• I12
• I18
• L15

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.