The UK Food Standards Agency will not pressure companies to use the traffic light system as the sole method of flagging up sugar levels in drinks.

A combination of Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) with either text or ‘traffic light’ colours should be used on product labels to highlight sugar, salt and fat content, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said today (10 March).

The announcement represents a climbdown from its original support for a universal red, amber and green ‘traffic light’ labelling system on all food and drink products.  

Traffic light labelling has met with fierce resistance from several large companies and retailers, who have argued that GDAs are more effective and fairer.

“The board’s recommendation clearly signals that the FSA does not support front-of-pack labels using only % GDAs, but that % GDAs should be combined with either traffic light colours or text, and should ideally have all three elements,” said the FSA.

“Tremendous progress has been made by industry in taking up front-of-pack labelling but different schemes are causing confusion to consumers,” said Jeff Rooker, chairman of the FSA board.

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“The board is very clear that the framework outlined today is an important step on the way to a single approach,” he said.

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