from Mark Joy, MD, Gasoline advertising agency

Sir; With reference to your feature on labelling (‘This mess we’re in’, April 30, p 32), deliberate confusion seems to be the single goal in the supermarket chains’ decision to each develop a set of mutually exclusive food labelling systems, rather than designing a cohesive industry standard.
No doubt each chain will cite its own as being the most innovative and pragmatic, yet wouldn’t it be more sensible if they developed a common system, thus enabling people to compare like for like?
The traffic-light system may not be perfect but its concept, which is easy to understand, could be a starting point from which to develop a recognised and approved system. The
supermarkets have a fantastic opportunity to appear concerned about consumer welfare by developing a single, easily understandable, recognisable labelling system.
By appearing to deliberately confuse the issue they are in danger of being part of the problem rather than part of the solution.