Retailers are today pledging strong support to a national pack labelling scheme which offers customers nutritional information on the food they buy.
The national recommendation being launched today by all four UK governments is a uniform system for showing how much fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar and calories are in food products, building on existing labelling which retailers have developed over the last few years.
Members of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) have led the way in signing up and worked closely with the Government on presentational aspects of the new labelling guidelines, including colours, format and font sizes.
All the major food retailers have signed up to the scheme, which combines traffic light colour-coding and nutritional information to help people make informed choices when doing their food shopping.
Andrew Opie, BRC Director of Food and Sustainability, said: “This is great news for consumers. A consistent scheme across all the major supermarkets means wherever we shop we will see the same front of pack labelling. That will help improve understanding of the label and make healthier choices easier.
“UK retailers have led the way on developing clear and consistent front of pack labelling over the last few years and we are delighted to see that such an important project is today getting the green light.”
Justin King, Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s, pledged the company’s support for the new labelling and called on others in the food industry to commit to the new scheme.
Last October, speaking at the Annual IGD Convention, King called for the industry to put aside their differences on nutritional labelling and work together to align behind a common format.
"Sainsbury’s has always championed simple, clear nutritional labelling. We were the first to use traffic light nutritional labelling on front-of-pack eight years ago, and with traffic lights on over 9,000 lines we are the biggest user in the UK. We know they are the most effective way to help customers make at-a glance healthier choices.
"The food industry has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take a consistent approach to front-of-pack labelling that will make it easier for customers to make informed healthier eating choices about the foods they buy. We hope all food retailers and manufacturers will sign up to the scheme for the benefit of UK consumers."
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."
Two years ago, MEPs rejected mandatory traffic light labels across the EU but since then our supporters have helped us ensure the labels are used by all major supermarkets across the UK. However, we also wanted the Government to recommend traffic light coloured labels to food manufacturers.
Mars UK, Nestle UK, PepsiCo UK and Premier Foods, among others, have announced they will be using the new label on their products.
The British Heart Foundation Chief Executive, Simon Gillespie, said: “This is undeniably a first-class scheme that will make it easier for shoppers to scan the shelves and make more informed choices about what’s going in their trolley.
“High levels of diet-related chronic diseases in the UK, including heart disease, mean it’s essential we have clear and consistent food labeling so people can make healthy choices.
“We’re delighted all the major supermarkets are committed to the scheme and look forward to more food manufacturers signing up.”
