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Environmental food labelling has become confusing and too complex for UK shoppers and is hindering rather than facilitating ethical buying, according to a survey from the consumer watchdog Which.
Consumers were particularly bewildered by the number of labels, many of which are going unnoticed in British shops and supermarkets, or were deemed unclear and even meaningless. Seven in ten of the 1000 shoppers surveyed by Which said they would pay more attention to the environmental impact of food if there was a clearer and more consistent standard among labels.
There are currently nine schemes widely used in the UK, though consumers are not aware of most of them: among the least-recognized labels are the Marine Stewardship Council’s, which only six per cent of respondents knew of, and the Carbon Trust’s ‘footprint’ information, which a fifth were aware of.
Those that are recognized, such as the Fairtrade mark, are nonetheless ‘poorly understood’ and cause confusion as to what they are actually measuring or certifying. The report concludes that these ‘valued’ labels still ‘do little to help consumers make more informed choices’. Problems are ‘compounded’, it adds, ‘by a number of contradictions and inconsistencies’ within and across labelling schemes.
Sue Davies, head of policy at Which, said the government needs to step in: ‘The coalition government has committed to introducing “honesty” in food labelling so that consumers can be confident about where their food comes from and its environmental impact. Which wants to work with the government and the industry to develop a clearer approach to sustainability labelling so that consumers can easily make more informed choices.’
Consumers were particularly bewildered by the number of labels, many of which are going unnoticed in British shops and supermarkets, or were deemed unclear and even meaningless. Seven in ten of the 1000 shoppers surveyed by Which said they would pay more attention to the environmental impact of food if there was a clearer and more consistent standard among labels.
There are currently nine schemes widely used in the UK, though consumers are not aware of most of them: among the least-recognized labels are the Marine Stewardship Council’s, which only six per cent of respondents knew of, and the Carbon Trust’s ‘footprint’ information, which a fifth were aware of.
Those that are recognized, such as the Fairtrade mark, are nonetheless ‘poorly understood’ and cause confusion as to what they are actually measuring or certifying. The report concludes that these ‘valued’ labels still ‘do little to help consumers make more informed choices’. Problems are ‘compounded’, it adds, ‘by a number of contradictions and inconsistencies’ within and across labelling schemes.
Sue Davies, head of policy at Which, said the government needs to step in: ‘The coalition government has committed to introducing “honesty” in food labelling so that consumers can be confident about where their food comes from and its environmental impact. Which wants to work with the government and the industry to develop a clearer approach to sustainability labelling so that consumers can easily make more informed choices.’
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