Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) labelling is a guide to how much energy and nutrients – calories, sugars, fats and saturates – are present in a portion of a food or beverage and what each amount represents as a percentage of an adult’s daily dietary needs.
As with traffic light labelling, the aim of the scheme is to help consumers compare the nutritional content of individual foods so that they can make appropriate dietary choices.
However, it is important for consumers to remember that nutritional requirements vary depending on an individual’s:
- age,
- weight,
- height,
- gender and
- level of physical activity.
Therefore, GDAs are not targets for individuals but guideline values which have been set for a healthy person of average weight.
GDAs are usually displayed as either one icon or five icons on the front of packaging, depending on label and product size. However, they can also appear on the back of packages in a table format.
The GDA campaign is supported by a coalition of the UK ‘s biggest food and drink manufacturers, including Walkers, Nestlé and Kelloggs, as well as supermarket giants Tesco and Morrisons.
