“What do the black hexagons on Mexican food boxes mean?”
Well, the short answer is: that they are there to help make an informed choice when you’re buying food. Basically, the black hexagons mean that the food has some excess of unhealthy ingredients. The more seals a package bears, the more unhealthy it is. This means that you can make a more informed decision easily, just by comparing two products.
This way you don’t have to do any math calculating the amount of fats, sugar, or calories a product has.
I’ve put together this guide to tell you everything about these seals and how it is that they are helpful when deciding which food is better to put in the shopping cart.
“What is “exceso de calorias” on my food?
This seal means calories excess
What are They
They are seals added to food and non-alcoholic processed drinks, both Mexican and imported, to warn consumers about unhealthy and critical ingredients. There are 5 hexagonal seals, each one warns about:
- Calories
- Saturated fats
- Trans fat
- Sugar
- Sodium
A product can show the 5 seals, just one or a couple, depending on the amount of dangerous ingredients.
These seals are designed to stand out and warn people, that’s why they’re big and ugly. Also, that’s the reason they appear on the top right front of packages, where they can be seen at first glance.
In addition to the 5 black seals, there are two captions down below them that warn about food that contains caffeine and sweeteners. In case the packages are too small, there’s a variation of the seals where you can see the number of seals a product has.
Why they Exist
Mexico has an obesity and diabetic crisis. Both problems have become chronic. Actually, Mexico has the highest obesity rate in Latin America.
The reason Mexico’s government is so concerned about obesity and diabetes is that they aren’t just bad for people who have them, as they increase the risk of getting other health problems, but they’re really bad for the economy. “in the next 30 years illnesses caused by obesity will take more than 90 million lives, which in turn will diminish GDP by 3.3 percent”. Obesity and diabetes also impact the quality of life and it’s expensive for taxpayers because the government takes money from public funds to provide treatments to ill people.
So, the government was worried and came to the conclusion that they needed to make public campaigns to make people aware of the risks of eating unhealthy food. And one of the ways, apart from TV, Radio, and internet commercials, is to educate people by showing seals on the packages. Also, one last measure was to take out mascots from food targeted to kids.
According to the government, frontal seals help to:
- Make informed decisions before buying food, to know if the product is healthy or not.
- They are easy to spot and are effective to inform nutrition facts.
- It allows consumers to compare similar products easily.
- Warn about dangerous ingredients.
What are They Added to
Read about where to eat healthy food at an affordable price in Mexico.
They are added to all processed food and beverages. Except for alcoholic beverages. This means that food that has not been processed won’t show any seals. For instance, a package of sugar or a bottle of honey bees won’t show any hexagonal seals.
H2: A Guide to Each Seal and What They Mean
[TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR SEALS]
H2: “Exceso Calorías” Excess Calories
Manufacturers place these seals on boxes or packages to meet certain criteria, as the following chart shows:
What Does it Mean for Your Choices?
So, these seals on Mexico’s food packages are there to warn about the excess of unhealthy ingredients in processed food. The reason these seals exist is a response to the severe obesity and diabetic crisis in Mexico. Will these seals affect your shopping decisions? Let your amigos know. Happy shopping in Mexico!
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