Members of the UK food industry, including Coca-cola, Greencore, Heinz, Innocent, PepsiCo, and United Biscuits, in addition to the British Nutrition Foundation, the Food and Drink Federation, together with supermarkets Wm Morrison, Marks and Spencer, and Tesco, agreed to the new guidelines which aim to help consumers increase their intake of fruit and vegetables.
The guide, published by IGD, (which can be found here) provides a set of principles for businesses to communicate the fruit and vegetable content of composite food products that contribute half, one or more of the five portions consumers are recommended to eat or drink each day.
“Composite foods are an important source of fruit and vegetables in the diet. Labelling the number of portions in composite foods helps consumers increase their five-a-day intake and encourages food businesses to add more fruit and vegetables to their products,” said Joanne Denney-Finch, IGD Chief Executive.
Denney-Finch added that IGD research shows that 46 per cent of shoppers expect to buy more products that contribute to their five daily portions of fruit and vegetables over the next 12 months.
“Under the auspices of IGD a working group consisting of nutritionists from the food industry, trade associations and NGOs has agreed these guidelines which help consumers to do just that,” she said.
Guidelines
As part of the new voluntary code, industry members have agreed limits to the amount of sugar, salt and saturated fat allowed in a composite food labelled as contributing to your five-a-day – a move which they say will to help move consumers towards a healthier and more balanced diet.
Denny-Finch said that the scheme aims to make it easier for people to hit the five-a-day target, while also ensuring that claims are more responsibly made.
Using the UK Department of Health's traffic light labelling system, the code says products that qualify for a green or amber light for sugar, fat and salt should be free to make claims concerning five-a-day.
In real terms, this means that one portion of the product should contain less than 30 per cent of the guideline daily amount (GDA) for saturated fat, less than 40 per cent of the GDA for salt, and the residual sugars content should be less than 30 per cent of the GDA for Non-Milk Extrinsic Sugars
The principles, developed for use when declaring fruit and vegetable portions in composite foods state that where a food contains fruit or vegetables, the number of portions may be communicated to consumers provided that:
- There is at least half a portion of fruit and vegetables in a portion of the product
- There is an appropriate variety of fruit and vegetables in a portion of the product (where more than one portion is declared)
- The disqualifying criteria are not exceeded
- Nutrition labelling is provided on the product
- Portion sizes of the product are appropriate