Isn’t it annoying when you are trying to eat healthy and you cannot find the fat, saturated fat, calories or sugars listed easily on the packaging of products? People don’t want to spend extra time in a supermarket reading the ingredients listed just to see how much of their daily intake it will take up.
Some products already adopt a colour coding system for the nutritional information on the front of products. But now the Government is rolling out a standard design, over the next 18 months to make it easier and quicker for consumers to find products that suit their lifestyle.
But as ever there will be an issue as the new system is not compulsory and as yet only 60 per cent of foods will adopt the new system. Brands which have signed up for the food labelling system include Pepsi, Mars, Nestle and Premier Foods, but the likes of Coca Cola and Cadbury have opted out of the system.
Many bodies such as the British Retail Consortium (BRC) have been campaigning for a system like this for years. Andrew Opie, Director of Food and Sustainability at the BRC spoke of his delight at Wednesday’s announcement.
He 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.”
Do you welcome a standard food labelling system which will make it easier to identify healthier food products at a glance? Or will you still simply buy what you want rather than what is healthier for you?
