Traffic light food labelling system given green light

A voluntary new universal food labelling system aimed at making it easier and quicker for consumers to make healthier food choices was announced yesterday by the government.

It is one of many initiatives that health ministers are hoping will be affective at reducing the billions of pounds the NHS lose annually due to the nation’s poor diet, leading to an ever-increasing number of obesity-related health conditions such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

The overhaul on how a product’s nutritional information is displayed was agreed upon by the government, food manufacturers and food retailers. The standardised front-of-label packaging will be introduced by December 2014 by those parties who have agreed to sign up to the changes.

Currently, food and drink manufacturers are not forced into stating nutritional information, and as such, those that do decide to state it can vary in what information they give. One of the biggest complaints consumers have about so many differing food labels is that they are simply confusing.

The vast variety of labels has been attributed to growing customer demand for more nutritional information; however there has never been an agreement on a consistent system for displaying this information – until now. The new labelling system will therefore enable people to compare similar foods to easier select the healthier option.

Presently, nutritional information can be stated either on the back, side or on the front of packaging. However, the new standardised labels for food and drink and drink products will be clearly displayed on the front of the product and consumers will be quickly able to see the amount of energy in kilojoules (kJ) contained, in addition to kilocalories (kcal) – known as calories, fat and saturated fat content, the amount of sugar and the amount of salt. ‘Guideline Daily Amounts’ will disappear and the amounts of each will now be explained as ‘Reference Intakes’.

Those amounts will be accompanied with how much of the maximum daily intake a portion of food accounts for. The already commonly used traffic light system for food labelling will be deemed the standard display for a quick glance at a product’s nutritional value in regards to fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt – Red means high, amber means medium and green means low.

The voluntary new scheme, part of the government’s ‘Responsibility Deal’, has received positive feedback from supermarkets and manufacturers that had showed disdain for changes in the past.
Nestle, Mars, PepsiCo, Premier Foods and McCain have all signed up, together with major supermarkets accounting for 60% of food sales in the UK; Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, the Co-operative and Waitrose.

Speaking about the new food labelling, Public Health Minister Anna Soubry said: “The UK already has the largest number of products using a front of pack label in Europe but we know that people get confused by the variety of labels that are used. Research shows that, of all the current schemes, people like this label the most and they can use the information to make healthier choices. We all have a responsibility to tackle the challenge of obesity, including the food industry. By having all major retailers and manufacturers signed up to the consistent label, we will all be able to see at a glance what is in our food – this is why I want to see more manufacturers signing up and using the label.”

Which? Executive Director, Richard Lloyd, also commented about the issue, saying: “For years Which? has been calling for food companies to use traffic light labels so we welcome this big step forward towards making it easier for consumers to make healthy choices. With levels of obesity and diet-related disease on the increase, it’s vitally important that people know what is in their food, and this labelling scheme will encourage food companies to do more to reduce the amount of sugar, salt and fat in popular products. We hope that more food manufacturers will join the scheme so that their labels will be consistent and comparable to those on the front of the retailers’ own packs.”

New food labelling system planned to tackle rising obesity

A brand new universal food labelling system will be implemented in the near future on all food items across supermarkets in the UK. Although the exact date of introduction and final design has yet to be chosen, it is hoped that the new widely accepted system will finally banish any confusion for consumers regarding how healthy a particular product is.

Health minister Anna Soubry confirmed that that the new labels will include information on guideline daily amounts (GDA), in addition to the colour-coded traffic light system which also depicts levels of fat, saturated fat, salt, sugar and calories in terms of ‘high’, ‘medium’ or ‘low’.

Ms Soubry spoke out on the need for a nationwide food labelling system, saying: “The UK already has the largest number of products with front of pack labels in Europe but research has shown that consumers get confused by the wide variety of labels used. By having a consistent system we will all be able to see at a glance what is in our food. This will help us all choose healthier options and control our calorie intake. Obesity and poor diet cost the NHS billions of pounds every year. Making small changes to our diet can have a big impact on our health and could stop us getting serious illnesses, such as heart disease, later in life.”

The traffic light system works by having a postage-stamp sized sticker that states the percentage of a person’s recommended daily allowance contained in each product – red for high, amber for medium and green for low.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) first considered this approach back in 2006 after feedback from consumers suggested that they preferred this method of food labelling. Major supermarkets however such as Tesco, Morrison’s and Kellogg’s fiercely objected to this. They were angered at being told what to put on their food products as well as realising that a damaging red sticker on food products could look bad and effect sales and revenue.

Despite this negativity from those three companies, traffic lights were voluntarily implemented by certain big players in the food industry such as Sainsbury’s, Co-op and Waitrose. Judith Batchelar, director of Sainsbury’s brand, recalls the time when the company embraced the scheme, saying: “It was back in 2004 and I think it is fair to say that Sainsbury’s had lost a little bit of its sparkle. We were really up for driving change within the organisation. What we found with traffic lights was exactly that.”

The new kind of food label is estimated to be in use by summer 2013, with work now being done to create a certain design that will satisfy everybody.

Peter Hollins, chief executive at the British Heart Foundation, spoke of his excitement regarding the latest announcement, raving it was a ‘quantum leap’ forward for public health. He said: “It’s now down to each and every retailer and manufacturer to step up and introduce these consistent front of pack food labels, including traffic light colours, so shoppers can make healthy food choices at a glance.”

The announcement for clearer food labels is fantastic news and they cannot come quick enough after Medical Specialists reported one week ago about rising obesity across Europe. In the meantime, we have weight loss treatments such as Xenical and the recently introduced XLS-Medical Fat Binder, which can help you drop the additional pounds that poor food labelling may have contributed to! XLS-Medical can even be purchased today without the need for a prescription. You can read more about both treatments from the obesity section of the Medical Specialists website.

Are foods labelled ‘lighter’ any healthier?

So called low fat foods can contain a similar number of calories to the standard versions and in some cases contain even more sugar, according to a study by consumer watchdog Which?

The investigation by Which? found that as many as six out of 10 consumers eat low fat and light foods several times a week, believing that they are a healthier option and can help them to lose weight. But its snapshot sample of 12 low fat, reduced and light products from supermarkets, compared with their standard counterparts found minimal differences in calorie content.

A standard McVitie’s chocolate digestive contained 85 calories and a light one had 77. A Tesco low fat yoghurt had more calories per pot at 130 than a standard Activia version at 123, while the Tesco option contained more sugar at 20.2g, more than four teaspoons than the 16.9g in the Activia pot. The high fat and saturated fat content of cheese, meant Cathedral City lighter cheddar still contained a fat content, higher than the governments recommended guidelines.

The problem appears to be the public’s general misconception of words such as: low fat, lighter, lite and lighter. Labelling regulations define low fat as containing less than 3% fat, which is great; however, what most people don’t realize is that there is a big difference between low fat foods and those labelled light, lite and lighter. A product labelled light, lite or lighter only has to contain 30% less fat than the standard version.

30% less fat than the standard product sounds very good, but not if the standard product contains far too much fat in the first place. In such cases even though the product contains 30% less fat than the standard product, it still contains a very high fat content.

Which? found misconceptions among consumers about the meaning of the terms reduced fat and light, with only 16% of people correctly stating that products carrying the label had to contain 30% less fat than the standard alternative. The Consumer Watchdog said, “While shoppers believe that words such as light and low fat are interchangeable, they have significantly different meanings.”

Richard Lloyd, executive director at the consumer group Which? warned consumers to read the labels carefully before they buy light, lite or lighter foods. He said, “Consumers are choosing low fat and light options believing them to be a healthier choice, but our research has found that in many cases they’re just not living up to their healthy image. Our advice to consumers is to read the nutritional labels carefully.”

This is a view backed up by Maya Monteiro, Senior Education Manager at the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), who said, “There is a troubling lack of understanding about the calorie content of everyday food, a fact that is not helped by products being labelled light, when in fact they have a very high calorie content.”

One positive development is the introduction of the traffic light labelling system, which many of the major Supermarkets are now adopting. Food sold pre packed is labelled with a traffic light label, showing at a glance the proportions of fat, saturated fats, sugar, and salt using traffic light signals for high (red), medium (amber) and low (green) percentages for each of these ingredients.

Ingredient	Green (low content)	Amber(medium content)	Red (high content)
Fat	less than 1,5 g	between 1,5 g and 10 g	more than 10 g
Saturated Fats	less than 0,75 g	between 0,75 g and 2,5 g	more than 2,5 g
Sugar	less than 2,5 g	between 2,5 g and 6,3 g	more than 6,3 g
Salt	less than 0,3 g	between 0,3 g and 1,5 g	more than 1,5

Foods with green indicators are healthier and to be preferred over those with red ones. The label is on the front of the package and easier to spot and interpret than Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) labelling, which will continue. The GDA is difficult to understand for many and does not lend itself to quick comparisons.

The use of traffic light labelling is supported by many physician groups, including the British Medical Association and welcomed by consumers. Despite worries from some in the food industry that red foods would be shunned, the British Medical Association, Food Standards Agency and others agree, that consumers interpret the labels sensibly, realise they can have red foods as a treat, and they are easier to understand than lists of percentages.

Which? has campaigned for clearer food labelling and is calling on Morrisons andIceland, the two remaining supermarkets yet to adopt the traffic light system, to do so as soon as possible.