Food quiz highlights benefit of clear, consistent nutrition labeling

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% of consumers accurately judging the packet's contents.
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 (News Release CI, 22 May 2013).