Tesco’s ‘sign-post’ labelling of food and drink is ‘not in the public interest’, according to Conservative MP David Amos. Instead there should be a uniform system, such as the one proposed by the Food Standards Agency.
Conservative MP David Amos said on Tuesday that Tesco’s food and drink labelling system was “not in the public’s interest”, as he put forward a bill to set up a uniform system of labelling.
He told the House of Commons that obesity had trebled in the last 20 years and is likely to worsen. Amos said his proposed system offers one system to help consumers make healthier choices about what they buy.
“I believe a single format for simplified front-of-package nutritional information, giving the amount of salt, sugar and fat contained in the product, combined with an interpretative element such as colour coding would certainly bring about a positive change in the way that we shop and eat,” Amos said.
Nutritional advice can be misleading, he said, calling for a more transparent system. Colour-coding and ‘traffic lights’ are preferred by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and has been favoured by some, but not all, supermarkets.
“The FSA believes that the consistent approach to food labelling will make it easier for consumers to eat more healthy…and incentivise businesses to make foods with lower salt, sugar and fat.
“I very much regret the instance that Tesco has gone ahead and done their own thing, which I believe is not in the public’s interest. and I applaud the way that Sainsbury’s has introduced their own ‘traffic light’ scheme, or ‘wheel of health’, which works on the principles of the FSA guidelines,” Amos said.
Amos urged the government to step in and end the confusion over labelling if a voluntary scheme did not gain universal support.
Tesco has opted for a “sign-posting” system, putting the content of salt, sugar, saturated fat and calories in grams on the packaging and how this relates to the recommended daily intake on its own label products.
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