FOOD firms face new laws requiring nutritional information on the front of all their products, according to a leaked European Commission document.

Health experts hope the overhaul of food labelling will help combat the obesity epidemic.

They will force supermarkets and food manufacturers to state prominently the amount of fat, sugar and salt on products.

Despite the proposal for compulsory labelling, the 83-page draft report seen by The Sunday Times will be seen as a coup for the food manufacturers who have championed the plan.

It rejects the British government’s scheme for “traffic lights” on food which alerts consumers to high levels of sugar, fat and salt with red lights. The Brussels document does, however, indicate this could still be used on a voluntary basis.

Jane Landon, deputy chief executive of the National Heart Forum, said: “[The European commission] is subject to the juggernaut of the food industry. A traffic light scheme would be more effective to help customers make healthier food choices.”

Under the proposed laws, food manufacturers could give nutritional information as a proportion of recommended daily intakes. It is exactly the same “guideline daily amount” (GDA) scheme used by Tesco and leading manufacturers including Cadbury, Nestlé, Unilever and Walkers.

The new proposal is a setback for the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the government’s food watchdog, which has championed the traffic light scheme in the face of a concerted campaign by the Food and Drink Federation for the rival GDA labels.

Earlier this year, the FSA launched a £2m advertising campaign promoting the traffic light scheme, which is used by Marks & Spencer, Asda and Sainsbury’s. It was aimed at countering a £4m campaign for GDAs backed by major food manufacturers.

Rosemary Hignett, head of the labelling division at the FSA, said its research had shown the traffic lights scheme was preferred by consumers. “We . . . have huge support from consumer and health groups.”

Hignett said that the FSA would wait for the publication of the draft report before commenting on its proposals.

Backers of the GDA scheme say it can be used to give accurate information across all products. Jane Holdsworth, GDA campaign director, said: “Research shows that our scheme has gone down well with customers and is now used by more than 40% of food manufacturers.”

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