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.
This would, after all, be very bad for business. It could make a huge dent in the cereal market, which is worth £1.27 billion a year, as well as in the frozen food and confectionary markets. Many in the industry are baffled. 'Are we saying that people shouldn't eat confectionary?' asked Alastair Sykes, chief executive of Nestle UK.
Those opposed to the scheme have serious clout and include industry giants Tesco, Morrisons and Somerfield, as well as 24 other manufacturers such as Nestle, PepsiCo, Kraft and Kelloggs. They argue the traffic light system is too simplistic and warn that the signals could actually mislead shoppers. Tesco even tested the colour-coded scheme in their stores and found that customers thought the amber colour was confusing.
Since the scheme is only voluntary, those opposed to it have introduced their own alternative health labelling, the GDA (Guideline Daily Amount), which, they argue, has greater flexibility and provides more information. GDAs give details of the calories, fat, saturates, salt and sugar, indicating the percentage of the recommended daily amount of each category in a portion, or serving, from the product.
The Food Standards Agency has hit back, describing the GDA labels as 'not scientific' and too complicated to compute at a glance. 'People have difficulty interpreting them when they are rushing around the supermarket,' said a spokesman for the FSA. The Food and Drink Federation refute that, conducting research that found that 67 per cent of people do understand GDAs.
In the next few weeks, an advertising battle between traffic light labelling and GDAs, will take place. The GDAs are spending £4 million on their campaign, twice the budget of the FSA for the colour-coded system. But it has already been a hot topic in the press.
Some shoppers are optimistic. 'The traffic light scheme is a good idea because it is so in your face, I haven't heard about the GDA one,' says Christine Murdoch, a mother of five from Edinburgh. 'A lot of people have no idea about what they are buying, so I think anything that makes people think about what they eat is a good idea.'
Others are less confident about the influence these new labels will have. 'Traffic lights or GDA, people who are addicted to processed food will soon learn to ignore them,' argues William Marks, a carpenter from North London.
Once both labelling systems have really entered the public's consciousness many questions will still loom: Will people take them up? Will they really help to reduce obesity? Will these traffic lights fail, and the GDA labels get the green light from every retailer? Right now, it's up to us, the consumer, to decide.
Are you a traffic light labeller or do you prefer GDAs? Share your views with other iVillagers on the Eating For Health message board.