The introduction of front-of-pack nutrition labels in the UK has encouraged consumers to choose healthier food, the country’s grocers insisted today (19 November).
Speaking at the Food Matters Live conference in London, representatives from Waitrose and from industry association The British Retail Consortium said the labels, launched last summer, had helped change shopper behaviour.
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Last June, the UK’s major food retailers, plus a range of major manufacturers, agreed to adopt new “hybrid” front-of-pack nutrition labels, which combined nutrition information with traffic light colour-coding.
However, the scheme has been criticised for being too simplistic, with one prominent academic at the conference calling the labels used “flawed”.
Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, stood by the labels.
“The companies that joined the front-of-pack [scheme] last year did that after extensive trials with their consumers to see how effective it was. In those areas, particularly where there is a direct comparison, there is evidence to show consumers make a better choice. We are not pretending this is the answer to everything. This fits into a framework of voluntary regulation.”
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By GlobalDataOpie’s comments were echoed by Moira Howe, head of health and nutrition at Waitrose. She argued the labels helped consumers follow a more balanced diet. “What we see is that customers might buy a sandwich that is ambers and greens at lunchtime, knowing that they are going out in the evening. It does help to moderate and help people to make the right choices.”
At the Food Matters Live conference yesterday, Professor Jack Winkler, MRC human nutrition research at the University of Cambridge, said putting nutrition information on the front of pack “with some form of evaluation” was a “big consumer advance”.
However, Prof. Winkler argued the traffic lights and the guideline daily amounts on which the UK labels are based are “flawed”.
“Both the traffic light system and the GDA system fail on the important variable. Everyone talks about labelling and influencing consumer behaviour. The real end-point is to influence companies’ behaviour to make them change to the foods to make them healthier so they get a good or bad label.”
