Cally's working title

Some time ago the Food Standards Agency (FSA) launched its ‘traffic light’ labelling system on food products to help consumers identify the amount of sugar, salt and fat in the food they buy.

This is a welcome initiative and easy to understand, unlike most food labelling currently seen. Red indicates a high level, amber a medium level and green means a low level. Unfortunately these indicators are still based on the amount of fat, sugar or salt in 100g, and mostly, people do not ‘know’ what 100g is when translated into food on a plate. A ready-made meal is rarely portioned out at 100g and is often twice that amount. Therefore, a green ‘traffic light’ for salt may underestimate the actual amount of salt consumed. However, it’s a good starting point and the FSA should be congratulated for coming up with such a simple idea.

Sainsbury’s www.sainsburys.co.uk, Waitrose www.waitrose.com, the Co-operative Group www.co-op.co.uk and Asda www.asda.co.uk are all supporting the traffic light scheme.

But, and there’s always a but, the adoption of this new scheme is voluntary and many food manufacturers are not supporting the FSA’s initiative.Tesco is not supporting this scheme and, other food companies such as Kellog’s, Danone, Kraft, Nestle and Pepsico are planning to launch their own labelling scheme. This explains the percentage of fat, sugar or salt a product has in relation to guideline daily allowances.

What a shame everyone can’t join forces and come up with a single system that can be used by everyone.