The head of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has criticised Tesco for “ignoring the weight of evidence” in its rejection of traffic light food labels.
In a speech to the National Federation of Women’s Institutes on Britain’s obesity epidemic, Dame Deidre Hutton will push for the supermarket to display clear nutritional information on the front of food packaging.
Tesco has sparked controversy by rejecting the colour-coded labels recommended by the FSA earlier this year.
The supermarket claims that the traffic light labelling system, which uses red, amber and green labels to describe high, medium and low levels of salt, fat and sugar in food, is too simplistic.
But FSA research involving 2,600 shoppers found that a colour-coded system was their preferred choice.
Tesco has developed a rival system that shows recommended daily allowances, along with Morrisons, Danone, Kellogg’s, Kraft, Nestlé and PepsiCo.
Dame Deidre, the chairman of the FSA, said: “You have to wonder why these companies are choosing to ignore the weight of evidence and use traffic light colours.”
Sainsbury’s, Asda and Waitrose have been praised for adopting the traffic light labels.
Shoppers are buying less soup, ready meals and cereals marked with read labels, and more with green, according to research by Sainsbury’s.
A spokesperson for Tesco said: “Tesco nutritional signposts are easy to understand and sales data shows that they are leading customers to make healthier choices.
“We were the first supermarket to trial traffic lights. We found that many were unable to make use of the in their shopping habits, leading us to look at alternatives.”
