NHF comment on FSA consultation on nutrient profiling
25 November 2004
The National Heart Forum welcomed today (25 November) publication of the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) expert consultation on nutrient profiling and the findings of research with consumers on signposting foods to help people choose a healthier diet.
Jane Landon, associate director of the National Heart Forum said: "The FSA's model for categorising foods as 'healthier' or 'less healthy' is a very significant and welcome advance. The FSA is to be congratulated on achieving agreement among experts from within industry and outside on a workable model, when some sections of the food and drinks industry have argued long and loud against any form of categorisation as simplistic and only 'demonising' certain foods.
"A scientifically credible set of nutritional criteria which enables us to determine how different foods contribute towards a healthy or an unhealthy diet could consistently underpin many of the healthy eating objectives of the public health White Paper. These include controls on food marketing to children, restricting school vending machines to sell only healthy products and putting meaningful nutrition labels on food packaging. We look forward to the results of the FSA's planned consultations to develop and test the model further."
Commenting on the FSA proposals for a 'traffic light' food labelling system, Ms Landon added: "It is no surprise that consumers strongly support traffic light labels on food. Nutritional information on food packaging is often hard to read, difficult to interpret and confusing. A scientifically-based, easy to understand system of nutrition labels will be an important first step for many people who want to choose healthier options and to decide realistically how often they can eat foods which are high in fat, sugar or salt within an overall healthy diet."
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