The
main 8 nutrients which should appear on every food item are,
Energy, Protein, Carbohydrate, Starch, Sugars, Mono/Poly-un
Saturated fat, Fibre and Sodium. The product should include
a list in order of weight. The packaging must not mislead
the purchaser; so if products use artificial flavouring and
claim to contain fruit, it should not include an image of
that particular vegetable. An example of misleading packaging
can be found on 'Dolmio carbonara' sauce which has no nutrition
labelling on it. It has a picture of whole cheese on the front
of the product, but only contains cheese powder.
Labels are supposed to inform you as to what you are buying.
The current directive declares that product names must not
be misleading. For example if the label says 'cranberry drink'
then you'd expect quite a high percentage of cranberries,
unfortunately in most cases the product contains less than
5% of cranberries, other ingredients like sugar and water
take up the other 95%.
Over 55% of consumers thought it difficult to understand what
the nutritional information on food represented, this shows
a greater need for new regulation, and more information. Recent
research by the Food Standards Agency also found that people
complained about the fact that the data was not always provided,
and that when it was there, it had not always given the per
portion, size and per 100g. Consumers also found the presentation
very unclear. Unfortunately, the FSA declined to comment on
the subject. |
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