NUTRITIONAL CONTENT:Front-of-pack labelling is already a feature on most ready meals and processed foods sold by major retailers, alerting consumers to their calorie, sugar, fat, saturated fat and salt content.
For example, Tesco's Finest spaghetti carbonara contains 725 calories, which is 36 per cent of the guideline daily amount (GDA) for an adult woman. And although the text on the packaging assures customers that it is "free from hydrogenated fat", the nutrition labelling reveals that it contains some 18.9g of saturated fat which is 94 per cent of the GDA.
Thankfully for the nation's waistlines, Tesco has a Light Choices range, among them a ham and mushroom tagliatelle ready meal. Although not labelled "low fat", it follows the EU's stipulation that low fat products contain 30 per cent less fat than their equivalents.
The dish contains just 4.8g of saturated fat - 24 per cent of the GDA. It also claims to be "a good source of protein". Although it contains a similar amount of protein, the Tesco Finest spaghetti carbonara doesn't draw attention to this fact.
Under the draft EU rules, it won't be permitted to do so without also highlighting the more negative fat aspects.
The Tesco products follow Food and Drink Industry Ireland's agreed GDA guidelines, as does the Marks & Spencer mozzarella and tomato pizzetta. But the latter combines the GDA system with the traffic light labelling recommended by the UK Food Standards Agency - showing red for the high saturated fat content (31 per cent of the GDA), amber for the fat and salt content and green for the calorie and sugar content.
HEALTH CLAIMS
Danone's Activia fruit yoghurt "helps improve digestive transit" the pack claims. Bifidis ActiRegularis, a live bacteria culture, is the magic ingredient that Danone says is "clinically proven to help improve slower digestive transit when eaten every day".
According to the packaging, 56 per cent of women say they suffer from "digestive discomfort", while in a study of 292 consumers, 82 per cent of people with this discomfort said they felt better after eating one or two pots of Activia every day for 14 days.
It remains to be seen whether Danone's studies satisfy the new EU regime, but similar claims haven't gone down well in California where a proposed class action lawsuit filed in January accuses Danone of mounting a false advertising campaign to convince consumers to pay more for Activia yoghurts with probiotic bacteria.
The lawsuit cites studies showing no conclusive evidence that the bacteria is beneficial to healthy adults.
The Vit Hit (Orangeberry Detox flavour) drink, manufactured in the Republic, pays homage to the chatty, unthreatening tone pioneered by smoothie specialists Innocent on its labelling, and takes it further by incorporating txt-speak.
"So listen up," it begins. "Here's what I'm gonna do for u! Detox ya (dandelion and burdock), help get rid of those love handles (low calorie), take the luggage from under your eyes (sugar and preservative free), make you healthier than a veggie convention (100 per cent RDA), make you irresistible to the opposite sex (ok, i lied about that one). Long live the vitamin (so will u if you take em)."
To clarify, Vit Hit claims its flavours contain 100 per cent of the RDA of five to 10 vitamins.
The Dawn and fast-selling Dawn Benefits range of smoothies and juices are sold by Kerry, the biggest Irish food company. This 250ml blueberry smoothie was made using 13 blueberries, hailed by some nutritionists, usually in lifestyle magazines, as the ultimate "superfood".
Dawn does not use the contentious word "superfood", but informs consumers that blueberries contain betacarotene - "a powerful antioxidant" that is "important for preventing damage to our cells".
But although people who eat fruit and vegetables have a lower risk of some diseases, scientific studies don't back up many of the claims made about antioxidants. Controlled studies have found no reduction in the risk of cell damage in patients taking antioxidant pills.
This suggests that, while fruits such as blueberries are good for people, it is because of their mix of vitamins and nutrients, not just because they're good sources of antioxidants.
Benecol Light Spread is "proven to reduce cholesterol", the pack says, which means it is making what the EU calls a reduction of disease risk claim. Under its new regime, such claims will in future be subject to individual authorisation.
Cholesterol levels in foods are not seen as the avoid-at-all-costs evil they were in the 1980s, and the EU has even decided to drop cholesterol content from their list of ingredients that food companies are permitted to put on their front-of-pack labelling, on the grounds that the cholesterol in food is not a major influence on cholesterol in the body.