The Food Standards Agency has come under attack for failing to give the industry proper guidance on how to introduce nutritional information onto menus.
Speaking at last month’s M&C Restaurant Conference, YO! Sushi said it had potentially wasted time and money as a result of calculating the nutritional content of its food and displaying it in the form of the FSA-backed traffic light labelling scheme, instead of the calorie count approach now being looked at.
The sushi company was the first UK restaurant chain to address nutritional labelling when it introduced traffic lights, which indicates the levels of fat, sugar and salt a dish contains, in March 2008.
At the time the FSA welcomed its decision “because [traffic lights] help people make healthier choices quickly, not only when shopping but when eating out”.
FSA project
However, when the FSA launched its six-month pilot project for nutritional labelling on menus earlier this year it adopted a more simple calorie count approach.
“We worked with the FSA on this and all of a sudden it’s about calories not fat and salt,” said YO! Sushi business development manager Alison Vickers. “That’s frustrating because the cost was significant. Now the information is out of date and there is still no clear direction from FSA on which system is going to be used.”
Tim Smith, chief executive of the FSA, admitted a simpler, calorie count approach was now probably the most suitable for restaurants to take. “Those using traffic lights have effectively jumped ahead to what might come next,” he said.
The FSA is now consulting with the sector following the end of the pilot project last month. “We look forward to the report from the FSA on the best way, from their research, they will recommend restaurants to communicate nutritional information to customers,” said Vickers.