UK’s traffic light food labels confuse customers

A new study by the University of Birmingham has revealed that traffic lights on food packages are confusing consumers and are likely becoming a hindrance to the obesity prevention attempts in the UK.

The study also found that while shoppers took into consideration the front-of-pack (FOP) labels, most of them considered the traffic light labelling system unclear and ambiguous.

The traffic light label system was developed by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) to provide consumers with independent expert scientific dietary advice to help them make healthier choices.

The three colours, green, amber and red, denote low, medium or high amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars, and salt, respectively.

University of Birmingham’s Dr Sheena Leek from the department of marketing said: "The number of individual pieces of information on a product, such as fat, saturated fat, salt, sugar and calories, as well as percentage of guideline daily amount (GDA), grams per serving and a related colour scheme can cause overload confusion.

"Our research found that customers try to get round this by focusing on one or two elements, for example, calories and fat."

The study also found that the customers’ decisions were hampered due to technical complexities of the system such as the difference between fat and saturated fat.

One of the tests found that around 40% respondents were unable to identify the healthier product when two traffic light systems, circular and horizontal, were compared.

In case of a circular label on a ready meal, a quarter struggled to pick out the healthiest option.

"This research has highlighted the elements of the FOP labelling format that cause confusion, something that may continue to occur with the government’s new standardised traffic light system, which does not include interpretive text and replaces GDA with the potentially confusing reference intake.

‘The government must focus on educating consumers on what constitutes a healthy diet to help them place the FOP information in context and work out how to balance the traffic light colours," added Leek.

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Image: 40% of respondents could not make a healthier choice of food that contained traffic light labelling. Photo: courtesy of Leslie Seaton.