Food Warning Labels: The Experience of Chile and Mexico

<jats:p>Purpose. This article provides a comparative legal analysis of front-of-package warning label systems for food products with excessive levels of sugar, salt, and saturated fats, as well as high caloric content. It examines the experiences of Chile and Mexico, which have established the world's most advanced regulatory frameworks in this domain. The study investigates the legal design of the octagonal warning labels placed on the front of packaging (Front-of- Package Nutrition Labelling, FOPNL), along with the normative grounds for their implementation. Furthermore, it analyzes a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of Mexico that upheld the constitutionality of mandatory labeling. Methodology: general scientific (dialectical, systemic-functional, and comparative) and specific scientific methods of cognition (formal-legal, statistical, etc.). The article concludes that these warning signs effectively inform consumers about the unhealthy composition of food products, representing a state intervention in the private autonomy of consumers and food producers (retailers) that is not only proportionate but also strictly necessary.</jats:p>