I came across this article at work recently and it got me thinking. Is the food labelling that is currently typical actually appropriate.
As a health conscious parent with a child that has an allergy to dairy, nuts and, more unusually citrus, labelling is important to me. I find that I will check the allergen information for nuts and milk but still end up having to read the ingredients incase of lemon or orange being in something. You actually get to the stage where you become fairly intuitive about what will be OK and what wont, but you still read anyway.
So, ingredients and allergen info are important to me. Then there's the nutrional content - without really analysing products, how many people really gain from this? It's good for comparing similar products but never having followed a diet as such I don't know what's too much fat in a pasta dish etc. So, some shops and manufacturers (mainly supermarkets on their own brand) have now introduced the traffic light system that rates the sugar, fat, salt (and others) content of the meal. In theory, this should be great - a quick reference guide. But what it does mean is that some ready meals, full of "nasties" (by that I mean unnecessary chemicals and preservatives, sweetners etc) appear better than the separate ingredients to make an item.....
One that very few places seem to include (I've noticed M&S do on some products) is the number of portions of fruit and veg in a product, or the amount you need to eat of a fresh item to get a portion. That for me would be a great plus - it can't be argued, people understand that they should be eating 5 portions, and it's not misleading anyone.
I could go on about other labels - Fair Trade, Organic, Local, Leaf, Low Fat, "Diet" etc, but I'd be at it for ages. It does all back up my belief - cook from scratch, then you know what you're eating and feeding your family. Surely that's the easiest and safest way - best for everyone, and the environment.
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I've just come across another potential "label" for food - this time it's got a strong environmental focus.
The UK Carbon Trust are trialling product labelling this month to provide information about the carbon footprint of goods.
"The organisation hopes 'carbon footprint' labels will eventually serve as a universal indicator of the amount of carbon emitted in the manufacture, packaging and transport of a product. "
"The labels will make their first trial appearance on snackfood products from Pepsico's Walkers Crisps, on organic shampoo from the Boots national retail chain and Innocent for its Smoothies health drinks. "
I'm disappointed that so few brands are trying it out, but I'm not surprised to see Innocent Smoothies up there in the first adopters. Walkers crisps are an interesting choice, but until more brands are on board, it's not going to have very much value because you want to be able to compare footprints of different goods. It will certainly help brands become more aware and reduce their footprint, which has to be a good thing. I just hope that there are VERY clear rules as to how the value is measured otherwise it will lose its meaning.
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