David Shapley
Users of the government's planned healthy eating logo could find themselves facing a licensing fee.
The DoH has confirmed the logo is likely to be launched by the end of this month, but discussions are still continuing over whether anyone using it will be charged.
A DoH spokesman said: "It is one of the options still under consideration."
The symbol is the main plank in a promotional scheme to boost healthy eating and was announced earlier this year at the NFU/FPC conference.
Since then the government, trade organisations and retailers have been hammering out the details and approving a new design, which will, in effect, make any previous logos obsolete.
This could cause problems, however, as many healthy eating logos, such as Five-a-Day, have already been developed by the multiples.
Among the most recent are M&S's 5 for 4 campaign, and Tesco's move to incorporate a similar slogan in its fruit and vegetable packaging.
While fresh produce forms an integral part of the promotional package, with the DoH providing consumer information as to what constitutes a 5-a-Day portion, the scheme will also embrace the processed and frozen sector. However, fresh produce industry leaders are calling for firm monitoring to ensure brands and products conform to the DoH healthy eating guidelines.
Douglas Henderson, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium, said: "While its voluntary integration will create no problems for fresh produce, we would expect the use of the logo to be accompanied by some guidelines, as it will also be available to processed products."
Any further information on the rules and restrictions are not expected to be available at the time of the logo's launch, but they will be in place for the campaign to get under way in the new year.
{{MARKET EDGE }}
Users of the government's planned healthy eating logo could find themselves facing a licensing fee.
The DoH has confirmed the logo is likely to be launched by the end of this month, but discussions are still continuing over whether anyone using it will be charged.
A DoH spokesman said: "It is one of the options still under consideration."
The symbol is the main plank in a promotional scheme to boost healthy eating and was announced earlier this year at the NFU/FPC conference.
Since then the government, trade organisations and retailers have been hammering out the details and approving a new design, which will, in effect, make any previous logos obsolete.
This could cause problems, however, as many healthy eating logos, such as Five-a-Day, have already been developed by the multiples.
Among the most recent are M&S's 5 for 4 campaign, and Tesco's move to incorporate a similar slogan in its fruit and vegetable packaging.
While fresh produce forms an integral part of the promotional package, with the DoH providing consumer information as to what constitutes a 5-a-Day portion, the scheme will also embrace the processed and frozen sector. However, fresh produce industry leaders are calling for firm monitoring to ensure brands and products conform to the DoH healthy eating guidelines.
Douglas Henderson, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium, said: "While its voluntary integration will create no problems for fresh produce, we would expect the use of the logo to be accompanied by some guidelines, as it will also be available to processed products."
Any further information on the rules and restrictions are not expected to be available at the time of the logo's launch, but they will be in place for the campaign to get under way in the new year.
{{MARKET EDGE }}
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