Tesco to Lead New Food Labeling Campaign

UK retail giant Tesco is preparing to be at the forefront of a new food labeling campaign, also led by The Coca-Cola Company and Cadbury Schweppes, to promote healthy eating. The GBP4 million campaign will rival the UK government’s “traffic light” system.

Tesco and over 20 food manufacturers and retailers are set to launch a new system which shows the percentage of guideline daily amounts of fat, salt and sugar in food items. The government’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) already backs an alternative system, where foods are labeled red, amber or green according to their sugar, salt and fat content.

The FSA’s voluntary “traffic light” labeling system is already used by UK retailers Waitrose, J Sainsbury, Asda Group and Marks and Spencer.

Tesco, which already uses the new system on more than 4000 of its products, has come under fire from some groups, which claim that the numerical skills needed to read the new guidelines will be too complicated.