As the clock counts down to ‘Sugar Thursday’ – when the SACN’s report and Public Health England’s sugar reduction strategy are released – it seems to have almost been forgotten that the DH claimed to have come up with the weapon to tackle obesity a year ago this month.
It’s been a long 12 months since the DH claimed that its traffic light hybrid front-of-pack labelling system, having secured backing from all the major retailers, would enable consumers to “see at a glance what is in our food” and “help us all choose healthier options and control our calorie intake.”
Backed by health groups, including Consensus Action on Salt and Health – before it mysteriously morphed into Action on Sugar – and billed by then health minister Anna Soubry as a way to help save the NHS “billions every year”, the scheme has become the forgotten weapon in the battle again obesity.
The draft report by Public Health England, which is expected to form the basis of its review on the options to reduce sugar intake on Thursday, does mention the possibility of the front of pack system being rolled out universally on all products as a way to get consumers to eat less sugar.
But there appears little enthusiasm either from the DH or from the industry to make it a truly comprehensive system, even though in many ways it would appear to tackle the key issues at stake in this debate.
The PHE report says that traffic lights have the potential to “drive reformulation and support consumer choice.”
But it says the system has been left hamstrung because the scheme is “not mandatory due to EU regulation” – ironic given the huge raft of labelling red tape in the European pipeline – and has too few signatories among soft drinks providers and cereal manufacturers.
Some of those may just be kicking themselves that they didn’t get involved as the agenda among health groups has switched to other more punitive measures, including a sugar tax, which is also set to be among the proposals mooted.
But it is a sign of how quickly traffic light labelling appears to have fizzled out that last week Tesco, whose decision to back it after years of opposition proved so pivotal in paving the way for the DH launch last year, is now trialling a new colour coding scheme.
Rivals Sainsbury’s told The Grocer that Tesco’s plan to have a WeightWatchers-style colour coding, separate to traffic lights, risked causing confusion.
Tesco, which reckons it may have caught on to a clever new way to help consumers with their diets and grow the health category, replied: “Perhaps Sainsbury’s might like to suggest the right colour for sour grapes?”
So much then for a universal approach. Perhaps there will be more unity from the industry and more direction from government on Thursday, as both are once again bound to come under attack.
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