A new survey by Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII), the IBEC group that represents the Irish food sector, has found that 78% of branded food products now carry Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) food labelling. However, almost two decades ago, the US adopted a format with for example cholesterol information that is not available on the GDA format - -  however, the GDA is nevertheless an improvement on the previous confusing one.

The majority of retailers have also adopted the system for their own label products, and those that have now carry GDA labelling on 95% of their range. GDAs are a voluntary food industry initiative to provide consumers with clear nutritional labelling. The survey of GDA label penetration for an average shopping basket of branded goods (based on the CSO basket) was carried out in May 2010.

It is the fifth survey carried out since January 2008 and over that time GDA labelling on branded goods has risen from 52% to 78% qand was based on 42 food items in the CSO (Central Statistics Office ) shopping basket which is used in the compilation of the Consumer Price Index. Fruit and vegetables were excluded as many are sold loose and not packaged. Branded goods were surveyed in Dunnes, Tesco, Supervalu and Superquinn. Own-label goods were surveyed in Tesco, Supervalu and Superquinn.

Paul Kelly, FDII Director said: “The food industry has made major progress in helping consumers make better informed choices on nutrition. It is important that MEPs support the GDA system in new legislation being developed to harmonise food labelling in Europe. The legislation is being debated and voted on in the European Parliament this week.

"The European Parliament has been supportive of GDAs and food industry efforts. It is now essential that GDAs are included as part of the new European legislation to ensure further uptake and consistency across the entire food industry.

"GDAs give consumers simple nutrition information on key nutrients such as saturated fat, sugars and salt, based on the portion size of the food being eaten. They have been put on packs on a voluntary basis by industry since 2006, but it is important that they now become part of the legislation."

FDII called on MEPs to reject amendments calling for nutrition labelling using colour-coding. "The traffic light system of labelling is a subjective assessment of the nutrient content of 100g of a food and does not provide consumers with the information needed to choose a balanced diet based on their individual needs. In addition, ‘traffic lights’ fail to take account of portion sizes, and do not put the food in the context of the daily diet,” said Kelly.

Kelly said that the Irish food industry could be damaged if MEPs include a provision to allow individual European Member States implement their own labelling rules. "It is in the interest of Irish industry that labelling rules should be consistent across the EU and, as a significant exporter, harmonisation of legislation across a single market of 500m consumers is key," he added.

US food label infomation format