Ecological innovations in the food industry - Representative cases of the Nutri-Score and the Eco-Score

The search for innovative solutions in the agri-food sector—in response to the challenges of sustainability and the growing demand for healthy and nutritious products—is a necessity. It is also important to highlight two major innovation trends emerging in this sector: the circular economy and eco-responsible consumption.

In this context, it is important to examine what innovation approach should be taken by analyzing two representative innovation projects led by Mil’Brick, an SME in the agri-food sector. The objective is to use evaluation algorithms—Eco-Score for one project and Nutri-Score for the other—to identify solutions that yield the highest score and enable the display of a label indicating that score. This process also involves conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA) using the Agribalyse database developed by ADEME, as well as online calculators provided by service companies to determine score values based on multiple parameters, and finally, parametric optimization to precisely identify the optimal ratios of the ingredients that make up the food product known as brick pastry. The purpose of this “Solutions” article is to provide manufacturers with tools that enable them to improve their products’ sustainability and health scores and to display these scores to consumers.