Italy has won a ruling from the European Commission that the traffic light system is overly ‘simplistic.’

The Italians claimed the labelling system was discriminatory against some of its infamous delicacies, like olive oils, Nutella, salamis and cheeses.

The scheme aims to target obesity by ranking food according to its fat, salt and sugar content. Green signifies that the food is healthy, amber that it is moderately healthy, and red that it is unhealthy.

The news comes after Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, flew to London to discuss trade and business with David Cameron.

Miguel Sagredo, a spokesman on industry for the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm said: "The simplistic character of the traffic light system might in certain instances create a misconception (for) consumers,"

London has been given two months to respond to the Italian’s protest by the EU, after it was concerned the traffic light system was misleading.

The UK has argued that it is a voluntary system based on research into anti-obesity.