The new president of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Iain Ferguson expects two food nutritional labelling schemes to emerge from a Food Standards Agency (FSA) evaluation. The study, which is about to start, will look at the impact of different front-of-pack labelling on shopping behaviour. The FSA is known to favour traffic lights over guideline daily amounts (GDAs) while the FDF prefers GDAs.
An independent project management panel (PMP) will oversee the study, which is expected to take 12 to 18 months.
"Over time we will see the attributes of each system," said Ferguson. "I won't be surprised if we find both the approaches work because there is rarely a single campaign (for food marketing and food advertising) which effectively changes behaviour."
Sue Duncan, chair of the PMP and head of the government's Social Science Research unit, said: "My role is to champion the use of evidence in policy making. This project will ensure that the evidence needed in this high profile and significant area of work will be robust."
Deidre Hutton, FSA chair, added: "Front-of-pack nutritional labelling is now firmly accepted by the majority of major retailers and manufacturers. The debate now is about which system works best for consumers rather than whether there should be one."
The FSA, together with its industry and health charity partners, was committed to standing by the results of the independent study, she said, and would encourage all manufacturers and retailers to adopt whatever system was shown to be most effective in helping shoppers make healthier food choices.
But she hinted that a compromise might be reached. "Some shoppers find extra GDA information useful - all industry needs to do is add traffic light colours to their GDA schemes to ensure the consumer gets the best of both worlds."
Meanwhile, both the FSA and FDF last month launched advertising campaigns to promote their preferred schemes.