Green light for new food labelling

The Australian Greens say a new system of food labelling announced today by Sanitarium should be introduced for all food and beverage products to help consumers make informed purchasing decisions.

Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens health spokesperson said today that providing consumers with more accessible information was an important step in supporting healthy choices to address Australia's growing obesity crisis.

"In Australia it is mandatory to provide nutrition information in the form of information panels on food packages, but research shows that people often find this information difficult to interpret,” Senator Siewert said today.

"Colour coded labelling provides a simple front-of-pack food system which would address this problem.

"Sanitarium's Healthy Eating System follows a model used overseas which divides food items into three groups and labels them accordingly- 'eat often', 'eat occasionally' and 'eat sparingly'.

"A recent review of Australia and New Zealand's food labelling laws recommended that a 'traffic light labelling' system should be introduced to help consumers make healthy food choices and it's good to see companies taking this on board.

"Such a system will help to improve the quality of food we eat, and our long term national health.

"The National Preventive Health Taskforce estimates that if current trends continue, nearly 17 million Australians will be overweight or obese by 2025. By implementing measures now to minimise this we're helping our children grow up in a healthier environment.

"What consumers want is simple and easy to read information to help them make informed product choices.

"The Australian Greens believe a traffic light front-of-pack food labelling system should be introduced for on all food and beverage products sold in Australia to assist consumers in selecting healthier food products," Senator Siewert concluded.

Photo used with the permission of Choice.

Find out more about Choice's campaign for traffic light labelling