legitimacy of front-of-pack nutrition labels: controversy over the deployment of the nutri-score in italy

Background: front-of-pack nutrition labels (fopls) aim at increasing transparency and consumers’ awareness of the nutritional composition of pre-packed food products in order to improve the nutritional quality of their food choices. nevertheless, the legitimacy of the nutri-score - the fopl officially adopted in france and several other european countries - is subject to both technical and political controversy, particularly in italy. in this study, we investigated how and by whom the legitimacy of the nutri-score, recognized by several institutional authorities, could be deconstructed within a specific system of norms, values and beliefs among italian stakeholders. methods: a netnography completed with qualitative interviews with eight italian and french nutrition and public health experts were carried out to highlight the dimensions (pragmatic, normative and cognitive) in which the nutri-score’s legitimacy is being challenged among the stakeholders involved in fopls’ implementation in italy. the degree of influence and the position of these stakeholders on the debate around the nutri-score were assessed through the stakeholder theory (sht), using their respective level of power, legitimacy and urgency. furthermore, we compared the italian and the french contexts on the issue. results: the direct implication of political parties and media outlets in framing the italian debate around nutri-score as well as the high influence of corporate unions, led to a different political outcome than in france. results also show that the deconstruction of the legitimacy of the nutri-score in italy pertained mainly to its pragmatic dimension according to the italian public health experts. nevertheless, its two other dimensions (normative and cognitive) are also questioned by high-influence stakeholders. conclusion: due to the limited mobilization of scientific expertise over the issue, the debate in italy stayed centered around the “attack” of the nutri-score to the italian way of life, mixing up concepts such as made in italy products and the mediterranean diet.