Suspicious minds rule

Distrust of low fat claims on food and drink labels is rife, according to exclusive research for Food Manufacture.

"What could possibly provide food for thought for food manufacturers is the low trust people have in ingredients labels; more specifically, one in three do not agree that products labelled as low are actually low in fat," said Yiannis Kranitis, senior research executive at Harris Interactive. Out of 2,020 consumers surveyed in the company's Omnibus poll, less than a quarter agreed with low fat claims, while 29% neither agreed nor disagreed with them.

Low fat dairy products, including cheese, yoghurts and ice creams, were most likely to be shunned by consumers because they tasted worse than standard varieties. At least one in five respondents would avoid buying low fat biscuits, cakes, crisps, nuts and confectionery for the same reason.

"Although there is wide acceptance among nearly half of British adults that saturated fats are the most harmful type of fat to health, around one in three - and an even higher proportion of those aged 35-44 - say they are consuming too much of this fat in their diet," added Kranitis.

One in three people surveyed were more concerned about consuming sat fats than they were about salt, other fats or sugar in their diet. But a quarter said they were either unconcerned about ingredients when looking at food labels or did not look at labels.

A total of 44% of respondents believed ready meals topped the list when it came to which foods contained the most sat fats. More than a third also cited crisps and nuts, biscuits and cakes and dairy products as foods that were high in sat fats.