Agency consults on next stage of signposting research
Friday 18 March 2005
The Food Standards Agency has launched a consultation on the methodology for the next stage of the development of a signposting scheme for food labels.
The first stage of signposting research, published in November 2004, showed that the majority of people strongly believe that a front-of-pack labelling scheme will make it easier for them to make healthier food choices when shopping and eating.
This initial consumer research also showed a preference for one of two options, the 'Simple Traffic Light' and the 'Multiple Traffic Light'. At a stakeholder meeting it was suggested that a third option, based on the contribution a serving of the food makes to the Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) for key nutrients, should also be considered further.
A number of alternative GDA formats were developed in consultation with a small group of representatives from retailers, manufacturers and a consumer group. These have now been tested to see which version people preferred, and as a result of this research a GDA-based format has now been selected to go into the final stage of quantitative research.
Start of consultation
The proposed methodology for the quantitative research is launched for a four-week consultation today.
Rosemary Hignett, the Agency's Head of Nutrition, said: 'We know people believe that a front-of-pack labelling scheme would make it easier to make healthy food choices. We need to ensure that we create a scheme that provides people with information in a format that will make it quick and easy for them to make informed choices.
'We are now consulting on the methodology for the final phase of consumer research to find out which scheme really helps consumers to make healthier choices.'
The FSA is proposing to test in the final stage of consultation:
- simple traffic light: providing an overall (colour coded) rating for the food as a whole, with descriptive wording
- multiple traffic lights: with a separate high, medium or low rating (and corresponding green, amber or red colour coding) for each of fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar
- GDA-based concept with colour coding: indicating the amount of fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar provided per serving, together with the GDA for each nutrient; accompanied by colours to indicate whether the content of each nutrient in the food is high, medium or low
The Agency is seeking views as to whether a fourth option should be included in the research and on the research methodology.
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