10 November 2026, Geneva: The World Health Organization has opened a global public consultation on a draft tool that governments could use to decide which packaged foods face regulation. It would flag products not only for their sugar, salt and fat content but also for containing flavours, colours or sweeteners. The consultation opened on 2 November 2026 and runs until 27 November 2026.
The draft, called an integrated food profiling model, is designed to identify industrially produced, pre-packaged foods that WHO says should be eaten in moderation within a healthy diet. A food profiling model (sometimes called a nutrient profile model) is a set of rules that sorts foods into categories based on what they contain. Regulators use such models to decide which products must carry warning labels, which cannot be advertised to certain audiences, which attract a health tax, or which can be served in public institutions.
Under the draft, a product would be identified if it exceeds one or more nutrient limits, or if it contains one or more of a list of specified ingredients. The nutrient side covers four components: saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, sugars and sodium, with limits derived from existing WHO intake recommendations. The ingredient side covers additives that WHO describes as used primarily for sensory purposes, namely flavours, colours and sweeteners. In practice, that means a soft drink or snack could fall within scope even if it meets every nutrient limit, simply because it contains a sweetener or an added colour.
WHO stresses that putting these ingredients in the model does not imply that they are unsafe. The rationale instead is that such additives make foods more appealing and can shape preference and demand, which is the behaviour that labelling, marketing and tax policies aim to influence. The model is a tool for nutrition policy, separate from the safety assessments that govern whether an additive may be used at all.
WHO frames the draft as a practical instrument for governments rather than a consumer guide. Its background material lists the policy areas the model is meant to support:
restrictions on food marketing
nutrition labelling, including front-of-pack labels (the simplified symbols or warnings placed on the main face of a package)
fiscal measures such as taxes
rules for food bought or served by public institutions such as schools, hospitals and government canteens
The draft also goes beyond classification. It sets out how countries could move from sorting foods to applying regulation. That includes aligning national labelling rules so that packages disclose the information the model needs, keeping different policies legally consistent with one another, and building systems to identify, monitor and govern the products in scope. Without ingredient and nutrient disclosure on labels, a model of this kind is difficult to enforce, which is why label alignment features prominently.
According to WHO, the model consolidates several strands of its earlier work:
its nutrient intake recommendations
the regional nutrient profile models developed by its regional offices
its global sodium benchmarks for processed foods
its recommendations to eliminate industrially produced trans fats
its guidance on policies for food environments
Implications for food and ingredient supply chains
Because the draft targets pre-packaged, industrially produced foods, its reach falls largely on manufacturers of soft drinks, confectionery, snacks, breakfast cereals, sauces and ready meals. It also reaches the suppliers of the sugar, vegetable oils, salt and additives they use. Where governments have adopted warning labels or marketing limits based on nutrient profiles, manufacturers have often responded by reformulating, cutting sugar or sodium to stay under thresholds. The inclusion of sweeteners in the draft is notable here, since sweeteners have been one of the main tools companies use to lower sugar content. A product reformulated from sugar to a sweetener could, under this draft, remain within scope.
The same logic applies to colours and flavours, many of which are themselves derived from crops. The material WHO has published so far does not distinguish between natural and synthetic flavours or colours. Detailed thresholds and ingredient definitions are in the draft document itself, which WHO makes available through its consultation portal.
WHO has not attached the draft to any binding obligation. Countries remain free to adopt, adapt or ignore it, and WHO presents it as a reference that national regulators can draw on when they design labelling, marketing, tax and procurement rules.
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