Word: traffic
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...European Union, in an attempt to battle the bloc's growing bulge, is mulling drastic changes in the way food products are labeled. The most controversial of the proposals so far is a flashy label backed by health and consumer groups that's based on the colors of a traffic light. Already fixtures in many British supermarkets, the labels use red, yellow and green circles to indicate how healthy products are in four categories: fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt. If a box of cookies is high in sugar, for instance, it'll get a red light. Food and drink...
...Advocates of the traffic-light proposal in Europe insist that prominent, mandatory labeling is the most effective way to inform consumers. They are backed by a growing body of research. A study this year found that just 17% of European shoppers look for nutritional information when they buy food. Another study showed that although 75% of consumers in France say they are interested in nutrition, a full 84% could not explain what a carbohydrate is. And another study, conducted in Australia last year, indicated that people were five times as likely to identify healthy food options when they see color...
...Linda McAvan, a member of the European Parliament from Britain's Labour Party and a supporter of the color-coded food labels, echoes that sentiment. "There is evidence that consumer pressure generated through the traffic-light scheme can lead to product reformulation by retailers," she says. "One major retailer told me how their least healthy sandwich range was phased out when labeling was introduced, as people stopped buying the high-fat and -salt options." (See "Cutting Salt Can Have Big Health Benefits...
...obesity, we are already doing a lot," says Mella Frewen, the head of the group. "Issues such as obesity require a complex mix of solutions. We need a more coherent approach covering a multitude of factors, like education, physical activity, portion size and frequency of consumption." Frewen contends the traffic-light proposal is too subjective. "It makes a blanket judgment about foodstuffs and suggests that there are 'good' and 'bad' choices which can be applied to everyone. This is not the case. Consumers have different dietary needs," she says. (See the 10 worst fast-food meals...
...Traffic-light opponents may have gotten the upper hand on May 16 when a European Parliament committee recommended backing the simpler front-of-package labels that list only calorie counts. But with a couple of months to go in the debate, health activists say there's a chance the multicolored labels could still get the green light...