Consumers are at the heart of our business so listening closely to them is very important to us. There has been much debate recently about how to improve food labelling to help consumers make more informed choices. The solutions considered have ranged from "traffic lights" to the Food Standard Agency's recent nutrition profiling model. But what do consumers - the people buying the products - think. We asked them and here is what they thought.
Consumers want to know more about the food they eat and its nutritional value so they are better able to achieve a balanced diet.
To many people, food labelling is confusing and contradictory and they welcomed the concept of a standardised labelling initiative which would provide, quick, easy to use, at-a-glance information to enable them to make informed choices about the food they purchase.
Consumers do not want their food demonised through "traffic lights" or warnings. Instead they want information to be presented in a positive, engaging and consumer-friendly way, with the emphasis placed clearly on guidance and encouragement. The desired focus is on the enjoyment of food and the notion of balance and positive choices rather than restricted choices.
Our consumers told us they wanted more and clearer information about ingredients, calories and how the particular foods fit into their diet overall - not just in isolation - so that is what we are giving them. We have developed a global labelling standard that includes guideline daily amounts (GDAs) that tells our consumers about the Big 8 - energy (calories), protein, carbohydrates, sugar, fat, saturated fat, fibre and sodium.
The independent research was conducted amongst adults aged 22-60, amongst a mix of people who were both 'food concerned' and read nutritional labels on packs and those who were 'food unconcerned', rarely if ever reading nutritional information on packs.