Consumers In the Dark About Hidden Dangers of Packaged Food

Consumers In the Dark About Hidden Dangers of Packaged Food

An international food quiz designed by Consumers International (CI) to highlight the benefit of clear, consistent nutrition labelling on the front of food packaging, has found that less than half the participating consumers could judge levels of salt, sugar and fat in packaged food without a visible label. With a label, this figure more than doubled to 90 per cent of consumers accurately judging the packet's contents.(1)

Over the past decade sales of packaged foods around the world have jumped by 92 percent, reaching 2.2 trillion USD in 2012.(2) This means that for busy consumers who want to choose a healthy diet, the information provided on food packaging is key.

Consumers from nine countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, were shown popular pre-packaged local foods with and without simple colour-coded 'traffic light' nutrition labels. They were asked to estimate whether the foods were high, medium or low in salt, sugar and fats, and to choose the healthiest option from a range of similar brands. The number of consumers making accurate estimates doubled with the addition of a front-of-pack nutrition label.

High levels of fat, sugar and salt in the diet are fuelling the rapid global increase in diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. These 'noncommunicable diseases', kill more than 36 million people each year.

Justin Macmullan, Head of Advocacy at Consumers International, commented on the findings:

"For the first time in history, lifestyle-related diseases are killing more people globally than infectious diseases. The cost of treating diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer is immense, yet they are largely preventable by reducing risk factors such as an unhealthy diet.

"Ensuring that there is clear, consistent nutrition labelling on the front of food packaging is just one way that governments can take cost effective, preventative action to help consumers make healthy choices and avoid less healthy choices.

The quiz was coordinated by CI and its member organisations(3) as a fun way to demonstrate the challenges that consumers face in choosing a healthy diet. CI is at the World Health Assembly in Geneva and is calling on World Health Organisation (WHO) member states to adopt the draft WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2013-2020(4), implement the diet-related recommendations and take additional actions to support consumers choosing a healthy diet.

The UK version of the quiz is still available on line and can be accessed here: http://consumerfoodquiz.polldaddy.com/s/consumersinternational

ENDS

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