Fine Cut Blog

Almost six out of ten consumers have difficulty understanding the nutritional information on food packaging, according to a new study.

A worldwide poll by Nielsen Holdings has revealed that 52 per cent of shoppers only partly understand nutritional labels, whilst 7 per cent don't understand them at all.

Reacting to the figures, Nielsen vice-president James Russo suggested that changing the way that nutritional information is presented on food labels could drastically help consumers in their bid to lose weight through dieting.

He told marketwatch.com: "Consumers around the world have healthy eating on their minds and consumer packaged goods marketers have an opportunity to help. Consumer-friendly nutritional labelling can be a powerful marketing tool as consumers are hungry for easy-to-understand information."

An article from The St. Louis Beacon has questioned whether a new rating system developed by NuVal, which simply grades the healthiness of food out of 100, could help people develop a healthier diet. The NuVal system is used by a few supermarkets in the United States and is reportedly favoured by the Obama administration.

However, University of Missouri nutrition expert Glenda Kinder says that a system like this would just increase confusion amongst shoppers. "I can't imagine that you could get a very good idea of [the] nutritional value of a food just from a number," she told stlbeacon.org.

Ascot Racecourse has defended its decision to use orange labels to uphold a dress code over the weekend.

Nick Smith, a spokesperson for the venue, apologised if the system - which saw inappropriately dressed visitors given the aforementioned labels - caused offence, but stressed that it was meant to be beneficial to people, according to The Telegraph.

"The stickers were given out to those racegoers who had been spoken to [by gatemen] about the new dress code for Ascot meetings. We didn't want them [customers] bothered again, so it was a way of identifying them. Strangely enough it was meant as a customer service," Mr Smith said.

With the aid of labels, officials at the racecourse apparently hoped they would not have to pester people regarding the new etiquette, which demands that men wear a jacket and tie among other things if they want to enter the 'premier enclosure'.

Charles Barnett, chief executive of Ascot, echoed this sentiment in a statement reported by Sky News, pointing out that it was a "well-intentioned" policy that was ultimately misguided.

The event facility is hoping to mend its reputation by giving full refunds to its premier enclosure customers and Mr Barnett highlighted how creating a welcoming environment was a major part of this. It is thought that the new dress code may have been introduced in response to suggestions in the media that standards of attire had dropped at Ascot.

New EU regulations regarding the labelling of gluten-free products have been praised by the chief executive of Coeliac UK.

Sarah Sleet, who has been working to improve life for coeliacs since 2005, has claimed to be extremely pleased with the roll-out of the new laws, which mean food manufacturers can place phrases such as 'gluten-free' on their labels.

Since January 1st, food labels can only contain this phrase if it contains no more than 20 gluten parts per million (ppm), which is 10 times lower than the previous limits of 200 ppm. Businesses can instead label their products as 'containing very low gluten', but only if it contains no more than 100ppm.

In an interview with bakeryinfo.co.uk, Sleet said that the regulations represented a positive move for coeliacs across Europe.

She said: "It provides real reassurance to consumers that, when manufacturers put a gluten-free label on their products, it really does mean something, because it is backed up by law."

Webmd.boots.com report that the new rules also mean that the phrase "suitable for coeliacs" cannot be used on labels unless it appears alongside one of the phrases explained above. Walkers was one of the companies guilty of doing this before the laws were enforced.

The laws also apply to supermarket shelves and menus.

Consumers are in favour of new guidelines on meat labelling as it supports a broader strategy, it has been claimed.

Sue Davies, chief policy adviser at Which?, made her comments at the recent Oxford Farming Conference at which the topic of British pork distribution was a key issue, according to meatinfo.co.uk.

She claimed research shows that 72 per cent of consumers are in favour of country of origin labelling (COOL) on such products and the reason for this support of custom labels is down to their keenness to back domestic farms.

"People think it's very important that there is origin labelling on meat, and the main reason is because people want to support British farmers," said Ms Davies.

Elsewhere at the conference, National Farmers Union vice-president Meurig Raymond showed he was keen for more people to adopt this attitude. He called on British retail consumers to choose domestically reared meat over imports, citing research suggesting 58 per cent of pig meat is imported.

Agra-net.com this week confirmed that the global deadline regarding presentations on COOL to a World Trade Organisation dispute settlement panel will be extended, following joint requests by the US, Mexico and Canada.

The process was initiated to negotiate requirements on what COOL should entail globally. Presentations will now be due by March 23rd 2012.

A new set of 50 pence coins has been released by the Royal Mint, in commemoration of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Metro reports.

29 new designs have been commissioned, symbolising each of the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines. The designs were submitted by members of the public, who entered a competition launched by the Mint for ideas.

One of the more unusual coins depicts the offside rule via its precision engraving; forming a simple rectangle, representing the pitch with arrows and position indicators. The words "offside" and "not offside" explain the rule.

The coin was designed by Neil Wolfson, a self-confessed football fan who told The Telegraph: "I'm a sports journalist by trade and I saw this opportunity as a natural extension of what I do.

"This design itself is just a case of lateral thinking. I'm a football fan, I followed the Premier League since its inception and if I had 50p for every time someone had asked me to explain the offside rule, I'd be a rich man."

It took the judging panel months to choose the winning 29 designs from the 30,000 that were entered into the competition in 2009. Other coins include goalball, boccia, gymnastics and swimming.

The collectible coins will be available to buy from the Royal Mint at £2.99 each.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has suggested people may struggle to maintain a healthy weight without clear food labelling.

Maya Monteiro, senior education manager at the charity, explained to the Press Association that it is not always obvious when a food has a high calorific content unless it is clearly shown on product labels.

She called on the food and drinks sector to adopt a common system that is easy for everyone to understand, as this will help consumers to stay healthy in terms of the number of calories they are taking in.

Her comments followed the publication of a study showing that two out of three adults underestimate the content of foods such as houmous.

"This troubling lack of understanding is perhaps not helped by labels such as 'light' and 'reduced fat' when these are applied to foods which still have a high calorie content," added Ms Monteiro.

Mail Online described how houmous contains an average of 332 calories per 100g, with the WCRF describing any food with more than 225 calories per 100g as being high in energy density.

Another item that is often misunderstood by consumers is light mayonnaise, which has average of 259 calories per 100g, yet just 29 per cent of respondees to the YouGov poll were aware that it was in this high energy density content category.