Last Updated on December 10, 2021

Israel’s food reform: red and green stickers on food items on Israeli supermarket shelves.

Starting on 01.01.20 an a initiative to get Israelis to make healthier food choices commenced.  A system of stickers; red and green is now displayed on food items.  Food companies are required to flag their products with either a red or green sticker.  Green stickers for healthier items and red stickers on less healthy products.

The stickers are to inform and warn the public of food items that contain high levels of sugar, saturated fat and sodium. 

Products containing high levels of these (according to the Israel Ministry of Health’s guidelines) are flagged with a red sticker.

The green stickers ark nutritionally recommended products by the Ministry of Health – those deemed to be healthier.

The goal of the food marking is to help the citizens of Israel make better food choices, develop good nutritional habits, maintain a healthy diet and prevent obesity, diabetes and morbidity.

In the second stage of this reform, restaurants will also be required to flag their menu items in the same way.

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Filling up your trolley with only green items is not the ultimate goal – you need to be aware.  Tahini for example, a healthy food according to nutritionists, will be labeled with a red sticker as it has high levels of sodium.

Don’t worry if you are color blind, in addition to the red or green sticker, items are labeled (in Hebrew) accordingly – high in sodium, low in fat etc.

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