| Major food firms will be pushed into adopting a single system of nutritional labelling under government plans announced on Wednesday. Health Secretary Alan Johnson will unveil a strategy aimed at ensuring shoppers get clear advice about the amount of fat, salt and sugar in their food. At present, three different systems are being used for products on the UK's supermarket shelves. Around 20,000 food and drink items carry one system showing guideline daily amounts of key nutrients. More than 50 firms, including Cadbury, Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, PepsiCo, Morrisons and Tesco, have introduced these labels on everything from ready meals to chocolate bars. They have all rejected the traffic light colour-coding system recommended by the official food watchdog. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) wants red, amber and green colours on all products to indicate the levels of fat, salt and sugar contained in processed foods. As of earlier this month, eight retailers, 16 manufacturers and four service providers were using these traffic light labels on products. The third and final system uses a mixture of guideline daily amounts and traffic light colours. Mr Johnson will announce the need for a "single, simple and effective approach to food labelling used by the whole food industry". 
|
