La thèse propose de retracer l’histoire de l’utilisation et de l’encadrement des informations relatives à la qualité nutritionnelle des produits alimentaires circulant sur les marchés. Elle s’inscrit ainsi dans le cadre de la sociologie économique en s’intéressant plus particulièrement et dans une perspective historique à l’émergence de dispositifs visant à « équiper » le choix nutritionnel des consommateurs. Parmi ces dispositifs, l’étiquetage nutritionnel et les allégations nutritionnelles et de santé, correspondant, pour le premier, à la manifestation scripturale et réglementaire de la qualité nutritionnelle des produits agroalimentaires et, pour les secondes, à son utilisation marketing, sont au cœur de l’étude. Après avoir retracé les débuts de l’utilisation marketing de la dimension santé des aliments, à travers l’exemple des campagnes publicitaires de la fin du dix-neuvième siècle de la marque américaine d’avoine pour le petit déjeuner Quaker Oats, la thèse se concentre sur l’évolution des règlements encadrant à la fois étiquetage et marketing nutritionnels. Elle prend ainsi comme point de départ l’Amérique des années quarante pour arriver finalement à la situation européenne actuelle et opère donc un déplacement à la fois chronologique et géographique entre l’Amérique et l’Europe, en passant par l’Angleterre. Ce déplacement permet de mesurer les difficultés propres à la mesure nutritionnelle des aliments, à son expression et à sa mobilisation dans le cadre de stratégies aussi bien privées que publiques qui visent à orienter, persuader et équiper les individus dans leurs choix de vie et de consommation. L’étude montre en outre qu’au niveau européen, les notions de santé et de bonne alimentation, au-delà des avancées et controverses scientifiques en la matière, ont aussi des déclinaisons différentes selon les pays et les secteurs d’activités. Ainsi, en matière de réglementation des informations nutritionnelles marchandes, les pays du Nord tels que le Royaume-Uni ou les pays Nordiques ont depuis une vingtaine d’années au moins, intégré cette réglementation dans le cadre de politiques de santé publique plus globales, contrairement aux pays du Sud comme la France ou l’Italie. Ces différences se retrouvent ainsi au niveau européen, comme en témoigne le règlement européen n°1169/2011, voté en 2011. Ce règlement, bien qu’ayant rendu l’étiquetage nutritionnel obligatoire, est marqué par des incohérences et des faiblesses qui reflètent bien les difficultés propres à la « capture » des caractéristiques nutritionnelles des produits et à leur « mise en boîte ». / The question of the display of nutritional information on food products has been largely dealt with from an Anglo-Saxon perspective, especially in the United States; this study aims to examine the problem from a European perspective. Drawing upon the theoretical framework of economic sociology, this dissertation focuses on the social and historical factors surrounding the emergence of apparatus that aim to « equip » consumers’ nutritional choices. Among these devices, nutritional labeling and health and nutrition claims are central to the study. The former is the scriptural and regulatory description of nutritional quality and the latter, the expression of this quality in a marketing context. After an in depth consideration of early examples of the use of nutrition based rhetoric in marketing through the example of the Quaker Oats brand's advertising campaigns of the late nineteenth century, the dissertation studies the evolution of the rules and regulations on labeling and nutritional marketing. Mapping this historical trajectory means drawing a line from the United States in the 40s to the current situation in the European Union. This analysis thus operates a chronological and geographical movement from America to Europe via the United Kingdom. This movement sheds light on the specific difficulties attached to the nutritional measuring of food products, to its expression and to its use in private and public strategies aimed at guiding, persuading and equipping individuals faced with lifestyle and consumption choices. The study also shows how inside the European Union, the definition of notions such as good health and proper alimentation, as well as being informed by scientific knowledge and controversies, is also subjected to both geographical and socio-professional variations. For example, Northern European countries such as the United Kingdom or Scandinavia have been integrating the question of the regulation of nutritional information on food products into public health policies unlike southern countries such as France or Italy. These differences have an effect on European food labeling policy, as in the case of the European regulation n°1169/2011, voted in 2011. Although it does make nutrition labels compulsory on a majority of products, this ruling bares incoherencies and flaws that deeply reflect the problems linked to the “capturing” and “boxing” of food products' nutritional characteristics.

Introdução: O papel da rotulagem como instrumento de promoção da alimentação saudável depende da adequação de sua linguagem aos objetivos da política pública. Objetivos: Revisar a literatura científica sobre a comunicação com o consumidor por meio da rotulagem nutricional e da rotulagem relativa a impactos socioambientais em embalagens de alimentos; entender como se formam os discursos sobre alimentação saudável na rotulagem; e elaborar propostas para fortalecer o efeito dos rótulos como instrumento de promoção da alimentação saudável. Métodos: Busca não sistemática de estudos sobre a comunicação via rótulos de alimentos em bases de dados do campo da saúde e multidisciplinares; e análise qualitativa do discursode embalagens de \"cereais matinais\", selecionadas a partir do ethos da marca. Resultados e discussão: A revisão traz estudos de recepção que apontam um mau aproveitamento dos rótulos pelos consumidores devido à linguagem excessivamente técnica; poucos estudos de emissão exploram o efeito de elementos visuais e verbais com apelo emocional na comunicação. A análise empírica do corpus, delimitado por quatro ethe (imagens de si criadas pelas marcas), mostra que o design das embalagens modula a geração dos sentidos, criando uma hierarquia para as mensagens capaz de reduzir o efeito das informações obrigatórias. Propõem-se novos caminhos para melhorar a comunicação sobre alimentação saudável e sustentável nos rótulos. Conclusão:A comunicação sobre aspectos nutricionais e socioambientais da alimentação via rótulos, tal como prevista na legislação atual, prejudica seu papel como instrumento de promoção da alimentação saudável. Para transmitir as mensagens conforme o pretendido pela Política Nacional de Alimentação e Nutrição, é preciso rever as informações priorizadas, repensar o design e aprimorar a linguagem, a fim de controlar melhor os efeitos de sentidos gerados. / Introduction: The role of labeling as a tool for promoting healthy eating depends on the adequacy of their language to the objectives of public policy. Objective: To review the scientific literature on communication with the consumer through nutritional labeling and the labeling related to social-environmental impacts in food packages; to understand how the discourses about healthy eating are formed in food labeling; and to develop proposals to strengthen the effect of food labels as a tool for promoting healthy eating. Methods: Nonsystematic search of studies on communication in food labels in health and multidisciplinary databases; and qualitative discourse analysis of the labels of \"cereals\", selected from the ethos of the brand. Results and discussion: The review brings reception studies that indicate a poor use of labels by consumers due to excessively technical language; few studies explore the effect of visual and verbal elements with emotional appeal in communication. The empirical analysis of the corpus, bounded by four ethe (images of themselves created by the brands), shows that the design of the package modulates the generation of meaning, creating a hierarchy of messages that is able to reduce the effect of mandatory information. Alternatives for the communication about healthy and sustainable eating in food labels are suggested. Conclusion: The communication on nutritional and social-environmental aspects of food in food labels, according to legislation, jeopardizes its role as an instrument for promoting healthy eating. To convey the message as intended by the National Food and Nutrition Policy, it is recommended to review the prioritized information in labels, to rethink the design and to enhance the language in order to better monitor the effects of meanings generated.

Introdução: O papel da rotulagem como instrumento de promoção da alimentação saudável depende da adequação de sua linguagem aos objetivos da política pública. Objetivos: Revisar a literatura científica sobre a comunicação com o consumidor por meio da rotulagem nutricional e da rotulagem relativa a impactos socioambientais em embalagens de alimentos; entender como se formam os discursos sobre alimentação saudável na rotulagem; e elaborar propostas para fortalecer o efeito dos rótulos como instrumento de promoção da alimentação saudável. Métodos: Busca não sistemática de estudos sobre a comunicação via rótulos de alimentos em bases de dados do campo da saúde e multidisciplinares; e análise qualitativa do discursode embalagens de \"cereais matinais\", selecionadas a partir do ethos da marca. Resultados e discussão: A revisão traz estudos de recepção que apontam um mau aproveitamento dos rótulos pelos consumidores devido à linguagem excessivamente técnica; poucos estudos de emissão exploram o efeito de elementos visuais e verbais com apelo emocional na comunicação. A análise empírica do corpus, delimitado por quatro ethe (imagens de si criadas pelas marcas), mostra que o design das embalagens modula a geração dos sentidos, criando uma hierarquia para as mensagens capaz de reduzir o efeito das informações obrigatórias. Propõem-se novos caminhos para melhorar a comunicação sobre alimentação saudável e sustentável nos rótulos. Conclusão:A comunicação sobre aspectos nutricionais e socioambientais da alimentação via rótulos, tal como prevista na legislação atual, prejudica seu papel como instrumento de promoção da alimentação saudável. Para transmitir as mensagens conforme o pretendido pela Política Nacional de Alimentação e Nutrição, é preciso rever as informações priorizadas, repensar o design e aprimorar a linguagem, a fim de controlar melhor os efeitos de sentidos gerados. / Introduction: The role of labeling as a tool for promoting healthy eating depends on the adequacy of their language to the objectives of public policy. Objective: To review the scientific literature on communication with the consumer through nutritional labeling and the labeling related to social-environmental impacts in food packages; to understand how the discourses about healthy eating are formed in food labeling; and to develop proposals to strengthen the effect of food labels as a tool for promoting healthy eating. Methods: Nonsystematic search of studies on communication in food labels in health and multidisciplinary databases; and qualitative discourse analysis of the labels of \"cereals\", selected from the ethos of the brand. Results and discussion: The review brings reception studies that indicate a poor use of labels by consumers due to excessively technical language; few studies explore the effect of visual and verbal elements with emotional appeal in communication. The empirical analysis of the corpus, bounded by four ethe (images of themselves created by the brands), shows that the design of the package modulates the generation of meaning, creating a hierarchy of messages that is able to reduce the effect of mandatory information. Alternatives for the communication about healthy and sustainable eating in food labels are suggested. Conclusion: The communication on nutritional and social-environmental aspects of food in food labels, according to legislation, jeopardizes its role as an instrument for promoting healthy eating. To convey the message as intended by the National Food and Nutrition Policy, it is recommended to review the prioritized information in labels, to rethink the design and to enhance the language in order to better monitor the effects of meanings generated.