Almost three quarters (73%) of the public want all cafés, restaurants and takeaways to use the same food labelling system on their products and menus.
The survey, conducted for Diabetes UK, also found that 71% of diners feel they don’t have enough information about what’s in their food.
Traffic light labelling has been shown to work well, but the system is not mandatory. Neither is calorie labelling on menus.
The new calorie reduction plan announced by Public Health England earlier this month called on businesses to encourage people to buy lower calorie products. But how they achieve that is up to them, it appears – there is no suggestion of mandatory calorie labelling on menus in PHE’s proposals.
Diabetes UK wants calorie labels on all “key” high street foodservice menus with front-of-pack traffic light labels on all pre-packaged foods.
“With around two-thirds of adults in the UK classed as overweight or obese, and therefore at increased risk of Type 2 diabetes and other chronic health conditions, it’s really important that we have measures in place that help make it easier for all of us to lead healthier lives,” said Helen Dickens, the charity’s assistant director of campaigns and mobilisation.
