How traffic light labels work

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Red, amber and green for understandable information

16.02.2010

The nutritional criteria used by the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) for defining the colours in its traffic light labels is based on comprehensive scientific studies and consultations. This system uses a reference value of 100 grams for food products and 100 millilitres for drinks and classifies levels of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt as low (green), medium (amber) or high (red).

The idea is compelling: A well-designed graphic right on the front of food packages could give consumers quick and clear information about key nutrients and help them compare products at-a-glance. This is exactly what traffic light labelling achieves: For every product the levels of key nutrients (fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt) are given in absolute grams per 100 grams or 100 millilitres. To help consumers interpret this information, each of the four values is marked with one of the well-known traffic light colours, red, amber or green, depending on whether the product contains high, medium or low levels of the respective nutrient. This is as simple as possible and as informative as necessary.

The UK model

OK, but when does a traffic light value change from green to amber, or from amber to red? foodwatch bases its colour-coding on the system used in the UK, where traffic light labelling has already been introduced. The values used by the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) for its traffic light colour-coding are based on the FSA’s own comprehensive studies as well as consultations from numerous consumer groups, food manufacturers and retailers. At the end of 2007 the FSA adapted its colour-coding values in order to account for the amount of sugars in breakfast cereals.

Foods (excluding drinks)

When providing information on sugar content, foodwatch – like the FSA – always refers to the total amount of sugar, regardless of its form (be it maltose, glucose syrup, monosaccharides or disaccharides). Unlike the FSA, however, foodwatch does not differentiate between sugars that occur naturally in the product and added sugars. The human body doesn’t care how the sugar got into the product – even naturally occurring sugars must be metabolised. The fact that only added sugars can affect traffic light colours in England is due to the influence of the industry. Food labelling is voluntary in the UK. Therefore the FSA is dependent upon the cooperation of the manufacturers.

Drinks

For drinks the colour-coding values for fat, saturated fat and sugars are lower because beverages are consumed in relatively high quantities.

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