"The Agency is entitled to make public the advice that it gives to Government ministers. This means that the Agency can be seen to act openly and independently in looking after the interests of consumers"
Due to various complaints and queries that questioned the format in which the FSA labelled food products, certain aspects of the food labeling system in England has been passed on to Defra (the Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs).
FoP (Front of Pack) labeling is one of the issues that has been causing concern for consumers. As you probably know, when you buy a food product there are various different ways that the brand can illustrate the food's nutritional values. Have a look at the pictures below to get a better idea of what I mean:
The image to the left is what is known as "traffic light labeling".Red= very unhealthy
Amber = its 'ok'
Green = healthy
It was found that this form of labeling in the shape of a wheel sometimes confuses consumers, in the way that it looks like a pie chart. Consumers may think that the nutritional values are equal due to the size of each segment, when in fact this isn't the case at all.
The image to the right shows pastel colour labeling. This could also be misleading because consumers could potentially assume that the intensity of the colours convey similar messages to those of the traffic light system (as shown above), when this is completely untrue.
I personally think that there needs to be a standardized Front of Pack nutritional labeling system in order to avoid any confusion.
Below are a few simple questions which I would really appreciate you answering:
- Were you aware that it was down to the Food Standards Agency to be responsible for food labeling?
- What is your preferred style of food labeling? Or does it not really bother you how the nutritional values of a food product are displayed?
- Would you agree that "traffic light labeling" is the most effective in terms of the red, amber and green colours that are used, but perhaps the shape of a wheel which could portray a pie chart causes confusion?
- Does the nutritional information on the front of the pack affect your decisions when it comes to actually buying the food?
What about other information?
I rarely see any information on food packaging which tells you where your food has come from. If your food is "local", is there any factual evidence which tells you where exactly the food has been sourced? If its "seasonal", do we really know that it is in fact seasonal, and that it hasn't been preserved with god knows how many chemicals?
If you have a spare two minutes (literally two minutes!!) then please click on the link below to answer 10 short questions about the ethics of food labeling. (It would be a major help for one of my assignments) Go on.... you know you want to :)
No I was not aware that it was down to the FSA to be responsible for food labelling.
ReplyDeleteI prefer food labelling that shows the nutritional information for the whole product rather than per/certain amount.
I think the traffic light system is fine but can see how some people who are not very clever may get confused by it.
I would prefer to see the image to the right with the traffic light colours introduced to it, i think that would be the best option. I also prefer how the example on the right says 'Each pack contains' that is much better than some labels which say 'Per 30 grams or per 250 ml' I mean who on earch has the time in the day to get the scales out and weigh up portions!
Keep it as simple as possible I think.
I think that there does need to be more regulation into food labelling though, companies take advantage of loop holes and label things to make them sound like they are much healthier for you than they actually are. For example a product may say FAT FREE!! well yes it maybe fat free but it could also be loaded with simple sugars which will make you FAT! its very mis leading and I think people in general need to be educated in food and nutrition, Nutrition should be covered in schools.
There are too many obese and unhealthy people out there who simply need to be better educated about food and nutrition. Anything that the FSA can do to help the better really. I think the key though is to make its as easy and simple for people to understand. Traffic lights are a good idea its very simple and easy to follow even for the laziest people in the world who dont have the time to digest the nutritional info on a product, whats more simple than just looking at a colour?
There definitely needs to be more regulation, your right. There have been many times where I have bought products if I am in a rush or not really paying attention and I pick it up because it says LOW FAT or FAT FREE.... and then when i get home and actually look at it properly I realise that it is in fact packed with sugars and artificial colours which are doing me no favours at all!
ReplyDeleteIts just like the media really.... the media highlights certain aspects of things and discards others in order to make you believe certain things and not worry about the bad things. Very unethical!
Simplicity is the way forward I think. If its simple, consumers can't get confused. If they cant get confused, there is not any problems, which means that products will be sold as ethically as possible without worrying about misconception or fraud.
I was aware that the FSA are responsible for labelling food products.
ReplyDeleteI think that people will never be satisfied with the info they are given and will always want more information available to them.
I think they should use a traffic light system as this is the easiest to understand. I don't really see why some people would find the pie chart confusing, all you need to do is actually read it!! I do however think that companies are sneaky with their labelling and it should be made clearer and consistnet to all consumers.
Thanks for the comment Jenna, I also don't see why people can't just read the wheel-shape nutritional info but I guess its just down to laziness! And I couldn't agree more with what you said about companies being sneaky, they will do anything to make their product seem better than it actually is, but the worrying thing is that so many people fall for it and I think this is where a large percentage of the problem lies.
ReplyDeleteI was not aware that the FSA are responsible for food labelling
ReplyDeleteI think the wheel is the best, I definately always look at it. I'm not the sort of person to check how much every single product contains but when it comes to products that are already seen as unhealthy like ready meals i will def take my time to compare every single brand until i find the one with no red colour on the wheel. I especially look at the amount of salt in food and wont buy anything with salt being red on the label
I agree that the traffic light colouring is the most effective, because its something that's common sense. everyone grows up learning from a young age that red is always a colour used for danger or to stop, not just in traffic lights but other things like beach flags.
I would have never thought about the wheel being a pie chart. Just the fact that the circle is divided into equal parts in every product shows it's not there to be showing the percentages as a pie chart
The last question I already answered earlier that the labelling does affect how I shop.
Another thing id like to point is that i too prefer when nutrition charts show the nutrition for the exact size of the product being sold instead of saying 1 portion or half of the product, that just wastes customers' time doing maths in supermarkets or tricks them
I definitely was not aware that it is the FSA’s responsibility, as it seems all the supermarkets have their own way of doing it.
ReplyDeleteI think there should be one standard style of labelling, its fairly complicated but once everyone is used to the same one and it is featured on the packaging of food wherever they shop, we’d soon get used to it and people could start making more informed food choices.
Its difficult to know which food products are healthy and which aren’t, as the nutritional value is made up of different things that in excess, can be detrimental to our health eg: fat, saturated fat, calories, sugar, salt, etc.
I personally favour the wheel label, as the colours become recognisable quickly and it’s easier to tell if something is good, bad or ok just by looking at the wheel. If it’s mostly red, i won’t even bother picking it up to see how much fat or calories it contains. I also think it’s effective as it encourages people to be more educated about what is in their food, for example, a food product that is colour labelled green for categories such as fat and sat fat, may still be high in sugar and salt, and therefore damaging if consumed in excess. These types of products have been deemed as "healthy" before as they are low in fat, so without turning it over and inspecting the nutritional information on the back, you’d never know the other things it contains that are, in fact, unhealthy.
I wouldn’t say the shape of the wheel is misleading, and am surprised that people would have related it to a pie! In fact, this couldn’t only really be confusing if it is placed on food of circular shape like pie, cake, pizza, etc. (none of which are known for being healthy!)
I also feel information such as E numbers, additives such as MSG and flavour enhancers should be placed in a more visible place on a food products packaging, as these things also matter.
Also, I want to second Ines's point about the food labelling and the portion size. It's irritating when something seems healthy because you have looked at it's nutritional contents per 100g, and when you come to eat it you realise its actually 3 times the calories/fat/etc label on the front!
ReplyDeletePortion size is definitely something that needs to be taken into consideration, i agree! I also think that its really cheeky of brand's to have a wheel which is traffic light coded on the front, and then after you buy it you realise that its actually 1/2 the pack or even 1/2 of the pack.. especially if its something which is clearly only big enough for one person like a snack or sandwich or something - this just proves that the brand is trying to hide something! From my experience if I ever notice a package that states 1/2 pack etc on the front I dont even bother looking at it, because I know that once i work out how many calories im actually taking in from the whole thing I will not want to buy it!!
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else, no I wasn’t aware it was the FSA who were in control of the food labelling on packaging, which is quite interesting! I have to say, I like the little pie chart style of labelling, I find it the easiest to look at, and the colour coding makes it quick to decide whether to put it down or not, those reds are red for a reason! I have to say I was a bit shocked when you said that people got confused about the pie chart shape, as I find this the quickest and easiest way to identify what is actually in my food! But I do understand how it can be confusing in terms of how those values relate to the food product, I think its probably just because I am quite meticulous when looking at nutritional values, and how much of the portion that is, from anything from crisps to a ready meal!
ReplyDelete100% nutritional values affect the way I eat, I’ve become a bit obsessive about looking at it all, but as we all know, there are the odd day where you just don’t care! Anything to cure a hangover for me is worth the intake of all the baddies for the day!
Other information would be very useful I think, especially in terms of preservatives, as some people are allergic to various preservatives, eat something and then react. But the thing is do the FSA really have the time and resources to label all food so thoroughly, when if we really are more concerned about these things, we could just turn over the packaging and read it for ourselves?