The camel is a horse designed by committee. So what creature will be created by the tortuous deliberations of the European Council and the European Union to create a unified front-of-pack food health label scheme?
I suggest a humpless camel with multiple behaviour disorders requiring the costly oversight of the RSPCA! Or to put it another way, a label that is both expensive and completely ineffective at achieving the desired outcomes.
And what's most upsetting is how much time is being wasted obsessing over the right label while so little attention is paid to actual consumer behaviour. Has anyone considered how much use it is to the average consumer to read a label that classifies all food per 100g or per 100ml? Has anyone factored in not just what food but how much food is consumed by obese people?
Some potentially compelling evidence emerged from Sainsbury's Nectar data presented at The Grocer's conference to suggest that labels can influence both consumer behaviour and also product development, most notably in ready meals and sandwiches.
Yet Sainsbury's Judith Batchelar was equally clear that reformulation makes more of a difference than a label. And that bureaucrats who thought their job was to stop the food and industry from doing the wrong thing were actually costing the consumer by preventing the food and drink industry from doing the right thing, citing as examples, legislation to reformulate milk and chocolate.
The same accusation can be levelled at this government: tax breaks could easily be used to promote smoothies and lower-abv alcoholic drinks. Advertising rules could also be used to allow the promotion of lower-abv drinks.
So while health secretary Andrew Lansley encouragingly understands the role the industry can play in "nudging" the nation, he also needs to provide a helping hand.
I suggest a humpless camel with multiple behaviour disorders requiring the costly oversight of the RSPCA! Or to put it another way, a label that is both expensive and completely ineffective at achieving the desired outcomes.
And what's most upsetting is how much time is being wasted obsessing over the right label while so little attention is paid to actual consumer behaviour. Has anyone considered how much use it is to the average consumer to read a label that classifies all food per 100g or per 100ml? Has anyone factored in not just what food but how much food is consumed by obese people?
Some potentially compelling evidence emerged from Sainsbury's Nectar data presented at The Grocer's conference to suggest that labels can influence both consumer behaviour and also product development, most notably in ready meals and sandwiches.
Yet Sainsbury's Judith Batchelar was equally clear that reformulation makes more of a difference than a label. And that bureaucrats who thought their job was to stop the food and industry from doing the wrong thing were actually costing the consumer by preventing the food and drink industry from doing the right thing, citing as examples, legislation to reformulate milk and chocolate.
The same accusation can be levelled at this government: tax breaks could easily be used to promote smoothies and lower-abv alcoholic drinks. Advertising rules could also be used to allow the promotion of lower-abv drinks.
So while health secretary Andrew Lansley encouragingly understands the role the industry can play in "nudging" the nation, he also needs to provide a helping hand.
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