A new traffic light system will highlight the salt, sugar, fat and calorie content of our food.
The Government has unveiled the design of new labels that will show the fat, salt, sugar and calorie count of foods.
As we reported back in October, many leading retailers and manufacturers have signed up to a voluntary agreement to display the labels on their packaging. It has to be a voluntary system, as to make it compulsory would require Europe-wide legislation.
Unsurprisingly, the final design is a simple traffic light system, with red for high levels, yellow for moderate and green for low. Research has shown that this is the easiest for us to (pardon the pun) digest when we’re shopping.
A long road
However, getting to this point took a public consultation and months of negotiation between the Government and the food industry. There was also the added complication that the labels had to be consistent with those in other European countries.
Some retailers – including Asda, the Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose – already have traffic lights and/or text highlighting the amount of salt, sugar and fat content in their foods.
Because some retailers and manufacturers haven’t signed up to the packaging agreement, only about 60% of foods will carry the new labels on their packaging.
The new labels have been welcomed by campaign groups and dietary bodies.
They will be introduced over the next 18 months.
What do you think of the new label? Will it make shopping easier? Let us know in the Comments below.
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