Traffic lights will not hit confectioners

Traffic light labelling would not prove the "disaster" for the biscuit, cake and confectionery sector that many companies had feared, according to market researcher TNS.

Speaking at the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate & Confectionery Association conference last month, TNS director Grenville Wall said: "People expect cakes and biscuits to be higher in fat and sugar. Putting red dots on a chocolate bar won't surprise anyone. Putting them on cereal bars, 28% of which are purchased for health reasons, just might."

Sales of countlines, bagged snacks, sweet biscuits, cakes and savoury pastries had sharply declined well before front of pack labelling systems started to appear, he added.

Manufacturers had made great strides in reformulating cakes, biscuits and other products in order to reduce fat and sugar, said consultant Geoff Talbot, an expert in fats and oils. However, many had only managed to achieve this by using a "cocktail of emulsifiers", he claimed. "You can make a low fat iced cake slice with 16% fat [compared to 30% for a standard product], but it will have a long list of additives."

Likewise, many companies trying to cut out trans fats from products had switched to using palm oil, which increased the saturated fat content, he said. "It's a trade off. However, you can use different palm oil fractions [which all have different melting points] to reduce this."

In future, more manufacturers would turn to 'DAG' (diacylglycerol) oils in order to replace saturated fats, he said. DAGs were metabolised differently to other fats and could help people manage their weight, he said.