Baroness Parminter writes... Food Labelling: a cautious welcome but much more to do

For many years, the Liberal Democrats have been calling for more consistent food labelling, most recently with our Autumn conference motion, 'Good Food Shouldn't Cost the Earth'.(page 24)

That's why I welcome the announcement that a new consistent system of 'front of pack' labelling will be up and running by summer 2013. It is a cautious welcome because the new system will be voluntary and the biggest challenge - getting all the food industry fully on board - still lies ahead. But, it is encouraging to see action at long last - and action by the Coalition Government when the previous Labour Government failed to act in this area.

Food is so important to public health and it is incumbent on government to encourage individuals to develop the knowledge and skills to make informed choices over healthy eating.

At the moment we have a variety of labelling systems in place and this can create confusion. The proposed new consistent labelling system will give a 'high, medium or low" rating to describe the fat, salt and sugar contents which products contain. This sounds very familiar to our traffic light colour coding system which Liberal Democrats have proposed for a long time.

So, it's a good start and it is news that we should welcome and, as Liberal Democrats, very much feel part of. Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians will do all we can to ensure that the food industry and retailers are encouraged as much as possible to adopt the new system and give consumers the knowledge they need to make informed, healthy food choices.

Baroness Kate Parminter is Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Backbench Committee on Defra/Decc