Simplistic food labelling risks making same mistakes as Ofsted one-word grades
In his latest article, Nick Allen draws a salient comparison between Ofsted’s now-abandoned one word inspection grades and overly simplistic food labelling for meat. Given the complexities surrounding different production systems, animal welfare, nutrition, and sustainability, he argues that simplistic food labelling cannot possibly convey enough information to allow properly informed choices.
In his article, Nick remarks: “The key is to provide information without turning it into a one-word verdict, or worse trying to reduce it down to a ‘red’, ‘amber’ or ‘green’ categorisation using the simplistic ‘traffic light’ system. This would likely consign healthy, nutritious fresh meat permanently to the red zone and do shoppers a big disservice as they try to construct a balanced diet using flawed labelling.”