Ministers plan single food-labelling system

Plans for a single method of food labelling have been outlined by government ministers who claim what while the UK is ahead in this sector, more work is needed on the creation of a universally-used system.

Currently, major producers and retailers use one of a range of guidelines that display information to consumers regarding the food they are buying.

The traffic light-style system uses coloured labels to signify whether a product has high amounts of fat or sugar, while the guideline daily amount method conveys the percentages of each food group per serving.

However, ministers now want the industry to agree on a single system as an independent expert panel researches the issue in an attempt to tackle obesity.

“Our retailers and our food manufacturers have looked at this in a very clear way and said ‘our consumers do want information’,” health secretary Alan Johnson remarked.

“We hope that we can convince the industry to go for one system.”

According to a recent report from the Department of Health, obese people present “serious” economic costs to the NHS – around £1 billion – and the condition is responsible for some 9,000 premature deaths annually.