The Department of Health’s new hybrid front-of-pack labelling system is causing huge confusion among consumers - and in danger of demonising all foods that carry a red light, according to a major new survey released this week.
Shoppers are widely misinterpreting the hybrid traffic light GDA labels, reveals the survey of over 2,000 consumers and executives at more than 100 food and drink companies, carried out by You Gov for the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
When asked how well they thought they understood the labelling system, which was launched in June and is currently being rolled out across all major supermarkets, consumers seemed confident, with 76% saying they understood it “somewhat well” or “very well”.
However 37% said they thought they should only consume one product a day that featured a red light - when official DH guidance is that consumers should simply try to cut down on these items.
Meanwhile, 67% of consumers said they believed if a product featured all red labels, it was unhealthy and should be “avoided altogether”.
More than half of consumers believed that if they stuck to products that had all green lights - meaning a total ban on some products such as cheese - they would have a healthy diet.
Worryingly, the confusion was not confined to consumers, with 38% of industry respondents saying they thought the system would become compulsory for brands in 2015. It is in fact entirely voluntary.
Clare Cheney, director general of the Provision Trade Federation, said the findings confirmed fears that consumers would be scared off a range of food including cheese, sausages, full-fat milk and bacon, which according to official DH advice in the Eatwell plate are fine as part of a balanced diet and in several cases provide vital nutritients.
“The traffic-light system is far too simplistic and is not helping people achieve a balanced diet,” she warned. “We are seeing a whole series of individual ingredients being demonised and the scare stories in the press have created a climate of fear around food, which means some people are avoiding anything that carries a red light. That is not the way to get a healthy diet.”
She described government efforts to educate consumers about the front-of-pack system as “useless”.
A leading retail executive responding to the CIM survey added: “There is no point labelling products to the extreme when consumers don’t understand why a balanced diet combined with controlled portion sizes are important.”
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