M&S calls for clarity in labelling

Marks & Spencer (M&S) will have completed two major labelling initiatives by March 31, according to its senior nutritionist, Claire Hughes.

Hughes said the retailer will have removed artificial colours and flavours from all of its foods by that date. She was speaking on March 4 at Westminster Food & Nutrition Forum’s keynote seminar ‘Food labelling policy - evaluating the Commission proposals and assessing future action’ in London. The reformulation process had embraced more than 900 product lines and began on May 15 last year.

M&S’s hybrid Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA)/traffic light hybrid labelling would have also been rolled out across all of its breakfast cereals lines from April, said Hughes.

But there had been problems with reformulation over products such as Turkish Delight, she said. She called for clarity regarding the aim of nutrition labelling. “We need to ask what we want it to achieve. Is it there to combat obesity or to encourage healthy eating, for example.”