Food and grocery industry analyst IGD has published voluntary guidelines for food companies on communicating portion size.
The guidelines are designed to help people eat appropriately sized portions within a healthy, balanced diet.
IGD chief executive Joanne Denney-Finch said: “We recognise that, as an industry, we have a role to play in helping consumers make informed choices for a healthy lifestyle. We conducted consumer research to gain a better understanding of attitudes and behaviours towards portion size information on food and found that a simpler, more consistent approach was needed. We have developed these voluntary guidelines based on what consumers have told us will be helpful.”
The guidelines come from the portion-size working group set up by IGD’s nutrition strategy body last year. The working group brought together representatives from foodservice and grocery and together they reviewed portion-size information on labels. The new guidelines recommend that the number of servings is shown clearly on the front of a ready-meal pack, for example, and that the nutrition information - whether per serving or per pack - is consistent on the front and back.
Claire Hughes, company nutritionist at Marks & Spencer and chair of the portion-size working group, said: “We know that it can be difficult for customers to manage and judge how much food to serve to their family or themselves. The reality is that customers don’t want portion information to be prescribed, but see it as a helpful guide when cooking and buying food.”
Meanwhile, new IGD research has shown that 85 per cent of food manufacturers have either stepped up their investment in sustainability or kept it the same during the recession, despite 42 per cent believing it is not yet high enough on the shopper agenda.
Three-quarters of suppliers think that sustainability will play a greater role in their trading relationships with retailers in the near future, but 41 per cent view increased global competition for resources and more complex legislation (40 per cent) as two of the biggest threats to wider business sustainability in 2010 and beyond.
