PM reassures industry over traffic lights

Prime minister Tony Blair has given a clear indication that the government is in no hurry to impose the traffic light labelling system bitterly opposed by food manufacturers.

The news will come as relief to those who argue that the preferred scheme of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) would unfairly demonise some products and do little to educate consumers on healthy choices.

In his latest lecture on healthy living, Blair said that while it would be "much better" if the industry rallied around traffic lights, the government would not intervene unless the current voluntary approach, which has produced a raft of formats, "does not work". He gave no timetable for any government decision.

Meanwhile, research by the UK consumer watchdog Which? revealed that consumers were confused by nutrition labelling schemes introduced by Tesco and others. It found that the FSA's traffic light labels for the comparison of fat, salt and sugar were the most helpful, with Tesco's system the least understood.

The research appears to contradict evidence at Tesco, where sales of healthier products, newly labelled under Tesco's own scheme, were said to have soared by as much as 80%.

Blair's comments came as two EU industry bodies weighed in to the labelling debate. The CIAA - the voice of the European food and drink industries - unveiled a scheme for front and back of pack nutrition labelling, including a uniform list of nutrients, nutrition information per serving, and guideline daily amounts (GDAs). Pack fronts would show calories per serving, and corresponding percentages of GDA.

At the same time, research by the European Food Information Council in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, showed consumers favoured pack fronts showing energy expressed as calories - rather than Kcals or KJs - per portion.