Lacors presses EC to strengthen nutritional labelling

The food industry must do more to provide consumers with consistent nutritional information about their food, the body overseeing local authority regulatory services has said.

The Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (Lacors) has supported the call for a single front of pack food labelling system made by prime minister Gordon Brown last week. Lacors claimed the lack of a single system meant consumers were struggling to compare different products that used different schemes.

Working with the Food Standards Agency, Lacors is also planning to lobby the European Commission (EC), which sets food labelling legislation, to tighten the margins for error on things such as fat and sugar. They want food producers to be forced to use the most accurate available method for determining nutritional information.

Chairman of Lacors, councillor Geoffrey Theobald, said: “Labels provide the main source of information for consumers wanting a healthy and balanced diet. People have a right to know how healthy their food is and it’s absolutely vital that accurate nutritional information is provided on food packaging.”

He added: “Traffic light schemes are an excellent way for consumers to find out the levels of salt and fat in their food, but the fact that there are so many competing schemes means that people can find it difficult comparing products and making informed choices about what they eat.”

Theobald cited a recent Lacors study, which highlighted the confusion that existed over the labelling of salt content in some food products.

“It would make it much easier for consumers to make informed choices if nutritional information was presented in a meaningful way,” he said. “The ‘per serving’ unit should be a realistic quantity and not one that provides a false sense of security to people buying the product.

“The solution rests with the food industry and supermarkets coming together to agree sensible serving sizes for different products. Only then will shoppers be able to quickly and easily compare products and make informed choices in pursuit of a healthy, balanced diet.”