There has been increasing global interest in nutrition labelling as a policy tool through which governments can guide consumers to make informed food purchases and healthier eating decisions. This interest comes as countries contend with an emerging epidemic of diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Nutrition labelling includes nutrient declarations, which should be mandatory for pre-packaged foods and for defined nutrients; and supplementary nutrition information, which includes front-of-pack labelling (FOPL).

Effective nutrition labelling, including FOPL has been identified as one of the strategies that countries should use to address the growing global concern of unhealthy diets. The development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of FOPL should be government led, iterative and collaborative process. FOPL should provide convenient, relevant and readily understood nutrition information or guidance on food packs, to assist all consumers to make informed food purchases and healthier eating decisions. An additional benefit is to stimulate favourable compositional changes to food products.