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by Marion Nestle
Jun
24
2013
Britain’s new food label: traffic lights (sort of)
The UK is introducing a uniform system of front-of-package food labeling—voluntary of course.
The food industry hates it. It’s got traffic-light colors, and we already know what that means in practice. People tend not to buy red-labeled products.
That’s why trade associations are complaining that this system is too simplistic, misleading, and unscientific.
Worst of all, it will confuse consumers into not buying products that fit just fine into healthful diets.
Tch, tch.
Australia is introducing a star system to rate products. Food companies don’t like that one either.
In the meantime, we’ve heard nothing about front-of-package labeling from our very own FDA since the Institute of Medicine released its recommendations in October 2011, and it looked like the FDA had given up on the idea in February 2012.
Front-of-package labels were on the early agenda for Let’s Move!
Maybe the European labeling initiatives will encourage the FDA to do so?