the FSA traffic light scheme
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The Food Standards Agency has developed a front of pack labelling scheme which can help everyone choose the healthier options when out shopping. It is not compulsory, so some retailers and food manufacturers have adopted the scheme, and others have not.
The Co-operative Group was one of the first retailers to sign up to the scheme and the FSA is hoping that more retailers and food manufacturers will join in.
The scheme is also supported by consumer groups such as WHICH, The National Consumers Council, National Heart Forum, Royal College of Physicians, National Heart Forum, netmums and the Office of the Children’s Commissioner.
What they look like
The FSA has suggested a simple format, but retailers and manufacturers can adapt the design if they feel it is necessary. If we want to eat a healthy diet, one of the key things we should be doing is trying to cut down on fat (especially saturated fat), salt and added sugars.
With traffic light colours, you can see at a glance if the food you’re looking at has high, medium or low amounts of each of these nutrients.
The amount of fat, saturated fat, sugars, and salt in 100g of the product determines whether the product is given a red, amber or green traffic light.
Red = High
Amber = Medium
Green = Low
In addition, the amount of these nutrients in a serving of the product will also be given in figures within the coloured dot.
You won’t find traffic lights on all products. At the moment the FSA is concentrating on the following priority foods: sandwiches, ready meals, pastry products, sausages, burgers, food products in breadcrumbs such as chicken nuggets and fish fingers, pizzas, breakfast cereals, accompaniments such as Yorkshire puddings and coleslaw, filled pasta, potato products such as chips and waffles, canned foods, bread, cakes and biscuits, cheese, desserts, crisps and snacks, soft drinks, condiments and preserves. This is because these are the most difficult products to decide which are the healthy options.
How to choose a healthy product
Red = High
If you see a red light on the front of the pack, you know the food is high in something we should be trying to cut down on. It’s fine to have the food occasionally, or as a treat, but try to keep an eye on how often you choose these foods, or try eating them in smaller amounts.
Amber = Medium
If you see amber, you know the food isn’t high or low in the nutrient, so this is an OK choice most of the time, but you might want to go for green for that nutrient some of the time.
Green = Low
A green light means the food is low in that nutrient. The more green lights, the healthier the choice.
Traffic lights on Co-operative products
Traffic Lights on Co-operative products can be found in a strip on the front of pack with additional information on calories and % of your guideline daily amount (GDA). The full nutritional table complete with GDAs can also be found on the back of pack.