viewing the proposed regulation, which would mandate FOP nutrition labelling of energy, fat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt content, expressed in terms of both amount per 100ml/100g or per portion and relation to daily
Reference intakes (EC, 2008). The UK is one of a small group of Member states which have developed a voluntary FOP scheme. The proposed EU regulations are a culmination of five years of research and discussion on the issue of mandatory nutritional labelling, including two impact assessments and two periods of consultation with Member states (Figure 1).
The recommended EU labelling system is nearly identical to the guideline daily amount (GDA) system already used by several national food manufacturers and private retailers. While the majority of Members agree with the need for mandatory nutritional labelling, a provision allowing for the coexistence of voluntary national schemes has sparked considerable debate due to concern over possible consumer confusion (EU Council, 2008). Certain Members assert that national schemes can play a critical role in promoting innovation through national-level consumer-focused public health policy (EU Council, 2008; FSA, 2006).
In the UK, following three years of research and consultation with consumers, the food industry and health experts, the FSA Board adopted the Traffic Light (TLS) system in March 2006. This colour-based system highlights total fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt content on the front panel of food packages. Each nutrient has a colour rating of red, amber, or green
3
corresponding respectively to high, medium, or low levels of the nutrient based on criteria established by the FSA in consultation with nutritionists, dieticians, and stakeholder groups (GOS, 2009).
FOP schemes, in general, and the TLS, in particular, are designed to provide consumers with nutrition information that can be read and processed quickly to provide a basis for easy comparison of food products (Malam et al., 2009). The FSA has focused largely on recommending the use of TLS on private label food products and has specifically encouraged labelling on seven types of convenience foods including ready meals, pizzas, sausages, burgers, pies, sandwiches and breakfast cereals. These seven target areas were selected based on https://www.51lunwen.org/uk/consumer research and consultation with advisory groups.
FSA conducted a survey in 2005 asking consumers to identify what food categories they most wanted to see signpost labelling (Synovate, 2005). Of twenty-three food categories analyzed, the highest scores were meal centre components (84%), chilled and frozen ready meals (83%), breakfast cereals (83%), and pizzas (82%), cakes and biscuits (82%), crisps (80%). FSA’s voluntary labelling campaign has received the endorsement of numerous health and consumer organizations in the UK, including the British Heart Foundation, the Royal College of Physicians, and the National Consumer Council (FSA, 2008).
Recent research and much of the literature assessing different FOP labelling schemes has focused on consumer acceptance (Feunekes et al., 2007; Kelly et al., 2009). However, there is need for research on food manufacturer response to changes in food labelling policies and voluntary schemes (Golan et al., 2009). In order to assess the public health impact of new labelling systems, it is imperative to understand the adoption of schemes across firms and food categories and to examine the influence on
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