Application of Nordic Keyhole and Nutri-Score for assessment of nutritional quality of plant-based dairy analogues
2025 (English)In: BMC Nutrition, E-ISSN 2055-0928, Vol. 11, no 1, article id 45Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Background: Public interest in plant-based dairy analogues is increasing; thus, their assessment by front-of-pack nutrition labelling schemes such as Keyhole and Nutri-Score can facilitate the identification of products with optimal nutritional quality. In this study, Keyhole and the latest version of Nutri-Score criteria were applied to plant-based dairy analogues (i.e., milk, yoghurt, cheese, cream, fat spread, and ice cream analogues) in the Swedish market to evaluate their nutritional quality. Methods: Nutritional data for 222 plant-based dairy analogues were collected from food manufacturers’ websites, and the eligibility of these analogues for Keyhole and Nutri-Score (A to E) were assessed. Products eligible for Keyhole and Nutri-Score A or B were deemed to have optimal nutritional quality. Results: 16% of plant-based milk analogues (from oat-, almond-, rice-, and potato-based products), 2% of plant-based yoghurt analogues and 37% of plant-based fat spread analogues were eligible for Keyhole. The plant-based cheese, cream and ice cream analogues were ineligible for Keyhole. None of the plant-based milk analogues qualified for Nutri-Score A, and 45% (mainly soy-, almond-, coconut-, pea- and mixed-based products) qualified for Nutri-Score B. 68% of plant-based yoghurt analogues (from oat-, soy-, almond- and mixed-based products) qualified for Nutri-Score A or B. The plant-based cheese, fat spread and ice cream analogues were ineligible for Nutri-Score A or B and 32% of plant-based cream analogues qualified for Nutri-Score B. A higher percentage of organic milk analogues and a lower percentage of organic yoghurt analogues were eligible for Keyhole and Nutri-Score A or B compared to their non-organic varieties. Keyhole and Nutri-Score had an agreement on classifying two plant-based dairy analogues as optimal nutritional quality products and 133 plant-based dairy analogues as suboptimal. Conclusions: There is variability in the eligibility of plant-based dairy analogues for Keyhole and Nutri-Score labelling. Eligibility for Keyhole was highest among plant-based fat spread analogues, while Nutri-Score A and B ratings were more common for plant-based yoghurt analogues. Plant-based cheese and ice cream analogues were ineligible for Keyhole and Nutri-Score A or B. Since the micronutrient content of organic and non-organic plant-based dairy analogues did not affect their evaluation by Keyhole and Nutri-Score, this limitation warrants further consideration.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
BioMed Central Ltd , 2025. Vol. 11, no 1, article id 45
Keywords [en]
Article; controlled study; dairy product; food composition; food quality; Nordic Keyhole; Nutri Score; nutrition labeling; nutritional assessment; nutritional health; nutritional requirement; nutritional status; nutritional value; plant based cheese; plant based cream; plant based fat spread; plant based ice cream; plant product; plant-based diet; plant-based milk
National Category
Food Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-78324DOI: 10.1186/s40795-025-01023-3Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85219632069OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-78324DiVA, id: diva2:2000076
Note
Open access funding provided by RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. This study was part of FINEST (Food Innovation for Enabling System Transition) project. FINEST is supported by the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS) [Grant no. 2020–02839].
2025-09-232025-09-232025-09-23Bibliographically approved