The Food Standards Agency has denied it is taking “the easy way out” by targeting major retailers over food labelling and nutrition guidelines.
The organisation was accused by MPs of coming down heavily on retailers because they were the most convenient point of access to the industry.
At a Westminster food sub-committee this week, Austin Mitchell MP said it was all too easy to shift the focus on to retailers and questioned how the FSA tackled issues stretching further down the supply chain.
But Neil Martinson, FSA director of communications, said its approach was both “fair and consistent”.
He said: “What we try to do is
deal with the issue in a fair and proportionate way.
“The retailers do represent a high proportion of the industry - 98% of consumers buy from supermarket retail chains. We always have contact with suppliers. We involve everybody but the retailers are major players.”
Rosemary Hignett, head of the FSA’s food labelling and standards division, said it was not just the supermarkets that were being asked to provide more comprehensive nutrition information.
She said the catering industry was also being involved and a distinction between non-packaged and packaged food needed to be drawn to avoid a “one-size-fits-all” solution.
But Michael Jack MP said non-packaged food did not simply apply to the foodservice industry and labelling on loose produce in stores was essential to give consumers guidance in all aspects of their diet.
Hignett said the FSA was discussing a straightforward signposting system as a 2003 survey showed that while 78% of consumers read food labels at least occasionally, 25% did not find them simple to use.
These measures could also apply to non-packaged goods in store and be extended to products for children, she said. “This could be simple nutrition information in an easy-to-use manner and could be applied consistently across packaged or non-packaged food.”
Minister for food and farming Lord Whitty told the committee later that if voluntary initiatives did not have a satisfactory effect, laws could be put in place to ensure improvements to labelling and content.
“If this is faltering, regulations may be appropriate. We are still at the point where, product by product, salt is being reduced. We need to take that faster.”
Amy Balchin
The organisation was accused by MPs of coming down heavily on retailers because they were the most convenient point of access to the industry.
At a Westminster food sub-committee this week, Austin Mitchell MP said it was all too easy to shift the focus on to retailers and questioned how the FSA tackled issues stretching further down the supply chain.
But Neil Martinson, FSA director of communications, said its approach was both “fair and consistent”.
He said: “What we try to do is
deal with the issue in a fair and proportionate way.
“The retailers do represent a high proportion of the industry - 98% of consumers buy from supermarket retail chains. We always have contact with suppliers. We involve everybody but the retailers are major players.”
Rosemary Hignett, head of the FSA’s food labelling and standards division, said it was not just the supermarkets that were being asked to provide more comprehensive nutrition information.
She said the catering industry was also being involved and a distinction between non-packaged and packaged food needed to be drawn to avoid a “one-size-fits-all” solution.
But Michael Jack MP said non-packaged food did not simply apply to the foodservice industry and labelling on loose produce in stores was essential to give consumers guidance in all aspects of their diet.
Hignett said the FSA was discussing a straightforward signposting system as a 2003 survey showed that while 78% of consumers read food labels at least occasionally, 25% did not find them simple to use.
These measures could also apply to non-packaged goods in store and be extended to products for children, she said. “This could be simple nutrition information in an easy-to-use manner and could be applied consistently across packaged or non-packaged food.”
Minister for food and farming Lord Whitty told the committee later that if voluntary initiatives did not have a satisfactory effect, laws could be put in place to ensure improvements to labelling and content.
“If this is faltering, regulations may be appropriate. We are still at the point where, product by product, salt is being reduced. We need to take that faster.”
Amy Balchin
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