Food labelling: Consistent system to be rolled out

A new consistent system of front-of-pack food labelling is to be introduced in the UK, the government  says.

 A combination of colour coding and nutritional information will be used to show how much fat, salt and sugar and how many calories are in each product.

 But as yet only just over 60% of foods will be covered by the system because it will remain voluntary.

 The announcement comes after a decade of debate about the issue and has been welcomed by consumer groups.

 The introduction of a consistent system has proved problematic partly because of the difficulty of getting industry leaders to agree on the labels and because  mandatory regulations require agreement on a European level.

 The problems have resulted in a variety of different systems being introduced.

 The unveiling of new labels comes after a public consultation last year and  months of talks with the food industry. Read full article from here