Tesco introduce sign post labelling system

27/04/05 Tesco has announced a new food labelling system which will make it easier than ever for customers to make healthier choices as they shop.

With nutritional ‘signposts’ Tesco will clearly label the front of hundreds of its own label packs with the key nutritional information customers need to choose a balanced diet.

The amount of salt, fat, saturated fat, sugar and calories in a serving of each product will be clearly stated in grams. Crucially, labels will also state how much of the guideline daily amount this makes up - so customers can get an idea of how this fits into their diet as a whole.

By separating the key nutrients the labels help shoppers monitor any or all of the areas they are concerned about depending on the individual e.g. salt if they have high blood pressure or calories if they are watching their waistlines. The simple labelling means it’s easy for customers to stay within their recommended amount without doing complicated calculations.

The first of the new style labels will be in store from this week and will be rolled out over the coming months. Tesco’s 300,000 Healthy Living club members will be receiving information on ‘signposts’ this week.

The ‘signposting’ initiative follows months of extensive research Tesco has done with customers to find the most helpful way of displaying nutritional information.

Tesco was the first retailer to propose clearer front of pack labelling, opting initially to trial a ‘traffic light’ system. Subsequent research with customers over the last twelve months has shown that this system was too simplistic, for example, customers did not know how to treat amber and could not relate the system to daily consumption. Feedback also showed traffic lights could mislead customers by creating ‘red foods’ such as many dairy items, which in fact provide important nutrients like calcium.

Nutritional ‘signposts’ is the latest move by Tesco in its drive to help customers live more healthily. The Tesco approach to health and diet has three pillars.

- Providing the simplest and most easily understood labelling on health combined with information online, in leaflets and in the Healthy Living Club.

- Making Health accessible through lowering prices on healthy products and offering the widest range of healthy products.

- Encouraging customers to get active, for example, through sponsorship of Race for Life.

Tesco has a track record of promoting healthy eating. Tesco was the first supermarket to label products with a GI (Glycaemic Index) rating in summer 2004 to help followers of the GI diet and people with Diabetes identify products which metabolise slower and make the consumer feel fuller for longer. Sales of fruit and vegetables at Tesco are growing faster than overall sales and we have worked hard to increase the range on offer. Tesco also has a very popular Healthy living range, works with Cancer Research UK to promote its 5-a-Day campaign and sponsors its five kilometer Race for life.