Waitrose will become the first supermarket in the UK to use a traffic light system on its food labelling from 13 March 2006.
The action is to be taken in accordance with the Food Standards Agency Board recommendations for front of pack nutritional labelling to the food industry.
The system is called traffic light signposting because of the green, amber and red colours used on food labels. The new labels will be shown across the range of Waitrose food. However they will start with sandwiches before being placed upon ready meals and pizzas.
Christian Cull, Waitrose marketing director said, “As a responsible retailer we want to provide the right signposting to help our customers make informed choices about what to eat.
“Our customer research indicated that shoppers want an honest, transparent form of signposting which allows them make informed choices – and they want this to be displayed on the front of packs.”
The traffic light colours will denote what levels of fats, saturates, salts and sugar per 100g are contained in those food items. Red will indicate the highest levels. The supermarket also said that they will be giving full information on key nutrients for the product on the front of the pack.
Leave a Reply