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447: The impact of healthier food labelling in the UK
Multiple Risk Factors in Cardiovascular Disease—Abstracts 447 THE IMPACT OF HEALTHIER FOOD LABELLING IN THE UK P. Scarborough. British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Objectives: To review analyses of the effectiveness of recently developed food labelling systems in the United Kingdom. Methods: The UK Government, recognising the political pressure to intervene in the obesity epidemic, developed a new, more informative food labelling system: the traffic light labelling scheme which labels the amount of fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt with a colour coding that represents high, medium or low. Some retailers and manufacturers have also developed their own systems: most noticeably the system based on percentage of Guideline Daily Amounts that is used by Tesco’s and others. The different stakeholders have each produced their own research assessing the qualities of their own schemes, and independent research has been conducted to assess the impact of the
e3 traffic light labelling system using sales data provided by a UK supermarket (the Co-op). Results: Research funded by the UK Government suggested that the public preferred the traffic light labelling system, and that it would help customers identify healthier food choices. Research funded by the food industry suggested that the public preferred the Guideline Daily Amounts system. Independent analysis on sales data of sandwiches and ready meals from the Co-op suggested that introduction of the traffic light labelling system had little impact on sales after price and promotion had been accounted for, but this analysis was not ideally designed to detect small impacts in sales. Conclusions: There is a need for more accurate analysis of a) how people use the different food labelling systems in real life contexts, and b) the impact of the different food labelling systems on sales of different food categories. Analysis of the Co-op data indicated how sales data need to be more readily available in order for the influence of food labelling to be accurately detected. Funding: The author is supported by the British Heart Foundation
e3 traffic light labelling system using sales data provided by a UK supermarket (the Co-op). Results: Research funded by the UK Government suggested that the public preferred the traffic light labelling system, and that it would help customers identify healthier food choices. Research funded by the food industry suggested that the public preferred the Guideline Daily Amounts system. Independent analysis on sales data of sandwiches and ready meals from the Co-op suggested that introduction of the traffic light labelling system had little impact on sales after price and promotion had been accounted for, but this analysis was not ideally designed to detect small impacts in sales. Conclusions: There is a need for more accurate analysis of a) how people use the different food labelling systems in real life contexts, and b) the impact of the different food labelling systems on sales of different food categories. Analysis of the Co-op data indicated how sales data need to be more readily available in order for the influence of food labelling to be accurately detected. Funding: The author is supported by the British Heart Foundation