Food labelling: stuck at the lights?
The latest scheme to make nutritional information easily accessible is fast dividing consumers and supermarkets into two camps: the Traffic Light Labellers and the Guideline Daily Amounters. Let the battle commence...
Before traffic lights were introduced in the 1920s, motorists used to drive down the road, oblivious to the potential dangers around the next corner. Many of us are just as reckless as we push our trolley down the supermarket aisle, picking up our favourite frozen pizza without a thought to all the hidden salt, sugar, and fats that lurk inside the packet. That is, until this January, when consumers were given their own traffic light system, clearly displayed on the packaging of processed food.
The idea is that a product's health credentials can now be identified at a glance so the potentially harmful contents, such as salt, sugar, saturates and fat are colour coded according to how much is in the product. Green means 'eat as much as you like'; amber means 'eat in moderation'; red screams 'eat sparingly!' They also show the amount in grams per 100g.
This government-backed scheme was developed by the Food Standards Agency as a way to help tackle the country's obesity epidemic. With almost a quarter of Britain's population being classified as obese, the introduction of warning labels on our processed foods was becoming not just urgent, but essential.
However, their introduction has turned out to be one of the most controversial issues that the UK food industry has have ever faced.
So far, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, the Co-op, Asda, Marks & Spencer and McCain have welcomed the scheme but, unsurprisingly, many food retailers and manufacturers refuse to adopt it. While they agree that the public should be given clearer information about what their products contain, critics are worried that putting red 'STOP!' signs on the labels of their foods will simply discourage customers from buying them.
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