Sir; We were amused to hear of Asda's latest initiative promising to be open and honest with its food labelling ­ at least on 200 lines. As far back as 1995, the Co-op made a commitment to ensure all its labels gave as much clear information as possible. We became the first retailer to label calories, fat and salt content per serving on the front, to accompany full nutrition information on the back of all products ­ not just a selected range of the ones which are good for you'. We also introduced the ground-breaking High, Medium and Low banding scheme, endorsed by the Coronary Prevention Group, so that consumers can see at a glance the relative value of the nutrients in Co-op food. In 1997, we produced a code of practice on food labelling and called for the industry to sign up to it. This not only covered misleading product names and claims, but also misleading pictorial representations of a product. The code was supported by the Consumers' Association and many of the issues it covers are being considered by the Food Standards Agency. It incorporates all the initiatives announced by Asda for its Good for You' range and many more besides. If Asda really wants to be honest and open, I challenge it to sign up to the code and to extend honest labelling to the rest of its own label products of which its press release makes no mention. Wendy Wrigley General manager - Retail Brands The Co-operative Group {{LETTERS }}

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