Traffic Light Labelling

In year 2007, Food Standards Agency (FSA) of the United Kingdom developed traffic light labelling guidelines with these objectives: • to allow consumers to correctly identify healthier food products to assist consumers to make comparisons between products easily to allow consumers to make these comparisons at a glance The traffic light labelling system uses three colours – green, amber and red – to show at a glance if a particular food has low, medium or high amounts of fat, sugar and salt. Foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt are linked with obesity and non-communicable • • This is how the criteria for foods (per 100 grams) are set out in the traffic light labelling system: Ingredient Fat Sugar Salt diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and high blood pressure. As yet, the UK labelling system is not followed in India. Amber (medium content) between 3 gm and 17.5 gm between 5 gm and 22.5 gm between 0.3 gm and 1.5 gm Red (high content) more than 17.5 gm more than 22.5 gm more than 1.5 gm Results can be interpreted as follows: Green: eat often (desirable); amber: eat occasionally (neutral); red: eat sparingly (undesirable) Traffic Light Rating of Chocolate Cream Biscuits Sl No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Brand Anmol Bonn Britannia Dukes McVitie’s Oreo Parle Patanjali Priyagold Green (low content) less than 3 gm less than 5 gm less than 0.3 gm In 100 gm (gm) 16.31 16.2 20.0 23.3 18.0 19.7 16.0 20.0 16.94 Fat Traffic Light Amber Amber Red Red Red Red Amber Red Amber In 100 gm (gm) 21.88 33.0 37.5 33.3 38.1 37.8 40.0 32.0 21.96 Sugar Traffic Light Amber Red Red Red Red Red Red Red Amber In 100 gm (gm) NM NM NM NM NM 1.26* NM NM 0.30* Salt Traffic Light - - - - - Amber - - Green