The French government is proposing its own plan for a ‘traffic light’ nutrition labelling system.
According to published reports, the packaging will be colour coded in a similar way to the UK voluntary system, illustrating sugar, fat, salt and calorie content of foods but using a five-colour code – green, yellow, orange, fuchsia and red, compared to the UK’s traffic light system, which features three colours.
Some controversy also has arisen concerning the UK system. The European Commission told FoodNavigator it was investigating whether the UK’s existing ‘traffic light’ front-of-pack labelling was compatible with EU law. If it was found lacking and infringement procured, referral to the European Court of Justice and possible fines could follow.