The Department of Health has stated that food packaging will be labelled with how many teaspoons of sugar and salt are added to a product, following the decision to leave the European Union.
It has emerged that officials want to use Brexit to allow for ‘visual labelling’, such as pictures of teaspoons of sugar, to be used on food products.
This contradicts the Food and Drink Federation’s views that using teaspoons as a measure of sugar content is flawed, due to variation in the size of individual spoons.
In a document on the obesity strategy, health officials said: “The UK’s decision to leave the European Union will give us greater flexibility to determine what information should be presented on packaged food, and how it should be displayed.
"We want to build on the success of our current labelling scheme, and review additional opportunities to go further and ensure we are using the most effective ways to communicate information to families.
“This might include clearer visual labelling, such as teaspoons of sugar, to show consumers about the sugar content in packaged food and drink.”
Currently, EU rules on trade prevent new labelling techniques to give families a clearer idea about the amount of sugar or salt contained in household products.
It is thought the government could force food producers to use the ‘teaspoons’ system with new laws.
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