SHOPPERS want clear “traffic light” labels on food to help them choose healthy items, according to the Government’s food watchdog.

Symbols to steer people away from junk food are being devised by the Food Standards Agency and will also eventually appear in TV adverts. It is part of the Government strategy to tackle obesity and improve diet.

Ministers want to see the health alerts on foods by 2006. The aim is for supermarkets, manufacturers, corner shops and perhaps even catering outlets which sell pre-packed food to adopt a standard scheme that alerts people to the health benefits — or otherwise — of the food they buy.

The symbol may even appear on food sold in vending machines and in schools, hospitals and canteens.

The plan has already been condemned by food industry chiefs as simplistic and in danger of demonising certain foods. Some supermarkets have introduced their own health labels on own-brand products and may be reluctant to adopt a new standard version within a year.

Shoppers have, however, made it clear that they want to see a standard label because they do not trust the food information found on packaging.

The standards agency tested five types of label on consumer groups of various ages around the country. The overwhelming message from those tested was that they needed help to choose healthy food and would like to see the labels on fresh as well as pre-packed food.

They chose two favourite symbols. One was a single traffic light symbol in red, amber or green with advice to “eat sparingly”, “eat in moderation”, or to “eat plenty”.

Under this formula red alerts would appear on packets of crisps or sugar coated cereals, amber on a chicken wrap or processed cheese squares and green on frozen peas and orange juice.

The second preference — a multiple traffic light scheme — is more complicated. It has four lights to indicate content of fat, salt, sugar and saturated fat.

A prawn mayonnaise sandwich, for example, might have two red spots denoting high fat and salt content, a green for low sugar content, and an amber for saturated fat levels.

Shoppers rejected the food industry’s scheme include fat, salt, sugar, and saturated fat content on the label and remind people of their maximum recommended daily intakes. The single traffic light symbol was the easiest for most consumers to follow. A middle-aged woman said: “It’s like a traffic light — stop, don’t eat it.”

Parents thought that their children would understand the traffic light message. One young mother said: “I could say to my children ‘it’s not me, look at the dots, it’s telling you’.” Parents said that it would help them to choose better food for their families. Even a 17-year-old schoolboy admitted that his eating habits might be changed by the symbols.

He said: “It would make me feel guilty if I knew everything I was eating was a red dot, it would make it hard to ignore.”

People in the focus groups were not, however, keen for the warnings to appear on menus in restaurants and pubs. They thought eating out was special and did not want the treat spoiled by health warnings.

Discussions are now to take place with the food industry and consumer groups to decide the way forward.

Gill Fine, the agency’s director of consumer choice and dietary health, said: “People have told us they want to make healthier choices and they would welcome signposting to help them. We will test out the options in shops.”

Martin Paterson, of the Food and Drink Federation, said that the industry was keen to give consumers more informative nutrition labelling but added: “Simplistic schemes which categorise products into good and bad could seriously mislead consumers.”

Explore Health News

• Swine flu

Times Recommends

• Phoebe Caldwell wins Times/Sternberg Award
• Raging against fake pop has its own pitfalls
• How a voice for everyone led to stalemate