UK Governments Agree to New Hybrid Labeling Scheme

A new front of pack food labelling system to help people check the healthiness of products is being introduced across all supermarkets by all four UK governments.

A new front of pack food labelling system to help people check the healthiness of products is being introduced across all supermarkets by all four UK governments. Labels will include information on guideline daily amounts (GDAs), be colour coded with a traffic light system and use the words "high", "medium" or "low" to inform people about how much fat, saturated fat, salt, sugar and calories are inside.

This is a voluntary scheme, but Governments have said they are confident that all supermarkets will adopt the new system.

The British Dietetic Association, founded in 1936, is the professional association for registered dietitians in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is the nation’s largest organisation of food and nutrition professionals.

The British Dietetic Association Honorary Chairman, Siân Burton, commented: “The British Dietetic Association wants consumers to have access to clear, consistent, at glance information to help them to make informed choices about the food they buy and eat. Consumers need a quick understanding of the relative healthiness of a product. We welcome today’s development by UK Governments about front of pack labelling. This is a significant step forward.”

The new consistent label, is colour-coded red, amber and green, and highlights 'percentage reference intakes' (formerly known as guideline daily amounts), to show how much fat, saturated fat, salt, sugar and energy is in a product.

Red colour coding means the food or drink is high in this nutrient and we should try to have these foods less often or eat them in small amounts.

Amber means that the amount of a nutrient is medium. You can have foods and drinks with all or mostly amber most of the time.

Green means low, and the more green lights on a product the healthier the choice.

The UK Food and Drink Federation (FDF) responded by stating: “As part of our commitment to make a positive contribution to improving public health, FDF members have voluntarily provided front of pack (FOP) nutrition information for many years and have implemented FOP nutrition labelling consistently across Europe. We are proud to have led the way.”

“We did it because we wanted to be transparent when it comes to nutrition information on pack, and to provide consumers with clear, factual labels intended to help them put the food they eat in the context of their overall diet. We recognise clear information is a powerful tool for helping consumers make better-informed choices and improving their overall food literacy.”

“FDF members have also supported greater consistency in labelling. But for multi-national businesses in particular that has a European and global context. Each company has many factors to consider and weigh – in order to make the appropriate balance for their business between the global, European and UK contexts and in the cost/ benefit equation. In addition, the question whether in certain categories we really do help consumers to make a different choice, or we can drive reformulation, by using colour-coding (something which we know the governments took seriously in their deliberations) may weigh in the balance.”

“Now that the UK governments' recommended scheme has been published our members will be considering these factors and the costs involved (particularly for our SME members) as they move towards a decision on whether and when to adopt the scheme.”

Nestlé UK & Ireland have already announced it will adopt the new nutrition labelling scheme. Nestlé is committed to providing consumers with the nutrition information they need to make informed choices. In 2005, we were the first confectionery company in the UK to display calorie information on the front of all of its products. In 2006, the company added full Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) information across the majority of Nestlé UK & Ireland product range.

Fiona Kendrick, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Nestlé UK & Ireland said: “We have supported the Government’s Public Health Responsibility Deal since its launch in 2011. We are adopting the new labelling scheme in the UK as we recognise its importance to the public health agenda. Providing consumers with consistency in front of pack labelling is central to them using this information. We look forward to working with the Department of Health and other stakeholders to make it easier for shoppers to choose foods and beverages to create a healthy, balanced diet.”

Source: British Dietetic Association