Trade Talk: Nanny doesn’t always know best
Another pro-traffic light lobbyist described the vote as a "massive blow for consumers". Such dogmatic opinions seem to be based on the premise that traffic lighting is the only way to go.
At the Food Standards Agency on the day of the debate, someone remarked that the number of MEPs who understood the subject was barely in double figures.
That's more likely to reflect the knowledge of the population as a whole rather than that of a selection of academics and health professionals who supported traffic light labels and who aspire to base their opinions on sound science without recognising that people's behaviour may be incompatible with it.
For instance, most people know that too many cakes and biscuits are bad for you. That doesn't stop some people from overeating them. Nor would red-traffic lights when they simply tell you what you already ought to know, without any helpful advice as to what you can do about it, other than abstain. And that isn't a viable option for most people who want to eat for enjoyment.
Surveys that ask whether traffic lights are easier to understand than guideline daily amounts (GDAs) will always get a 'yes' vote because instructions for 'stop' or 'go' are easier to understand if the underlying objective is to advise people against eating certain foods altogether and for eating others ad libitum.
But if you want people to calculate how much of a fatty, sugary or salty food they can eat as part of a daily balanced diet, then more precise information is essential. GDAs provide such directions. In so doing, they give people permission to eat sensible amounts of 'forbidden' fruits within a healthy and enjoyable diet without getting too fat or ill.
The barrier to success is the level of education required for most people to make use of GDAs. Some lobbyists have presumed that that hurdle is too high and pressed for a nannified solution that doesn't require much intelligence to follow.
But the EP recognised that nanny doesn't always know best and people have the brainpower to learn how to use GDAs and achieve a better endpoint than simple stop-go dictats which, although easy to understand, need far more information and background knowledge to help to achieve a balanced diet.
Clare Cheney is director general of the Provision Trade Federation . Contact her at clare.cheney@provtrade.co.uk
