Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  We did a lot of qualitative and quantitative consumer research that included some focus group work with young people, not with children but with young people, teenagers, and they, like the rest of the population, found the traffic light, colour-coded approach very helpful. They were very attracted to it and felt they could use it to help them make healthier choices.

Health committee  Ofcom is the broadcast regulator, and their restrictions on television advertising are going to be introduced, so they're in the lead on that.

Health committee  Yes, that's right.

Health committee  As opposed to satellite channels that might be beamed throughout the country, you mean?

Health committee  As far as the U.K. is concerned? The vast majority of the television channels received and used in U.K. homes are regulated by Ofcom. The rules that are going to be introduced will have a very significant effect, a huge effect, on television advertising to children in the U.K. It isn't the same situation as pertains, for instance, to Sweden, where they had restrictions on advertising to children.

Health committee  Most of the businesses we've been working with have been changing their labels inside their normal cycle of label changes. Most of the sorts of products that we've been talking about for front-of-pack labelling are relabelled very frequently in any case in order to keep the packaging looking fresh and exciting for consumers.

Health committee  In practice, we found in the research we did with consumers that consumers told us they understood already the numerical information they were receiving on calories. It was the numerical information on fats and sugars that they found more difficult to interpret, but they knew if something was high in fat or high in sugar it would be bound to have lots of calories in it.

Health committee  Our intakes of trans fats are quite a bit lower than they are in North America, but it is still an issue of concern to consumers. Currently trans fats aren't labelled in the U.K., and we are unable to ask for trans fat labelling because of EU legislation. EU legislation is currently under review, and parts of those review discussions are focusing on whether in addition to provide information on trans fats.

Health committee  Another important element of the work we're doing is looking at the nutrient profiling of foods that are being sold. We're currently talking with industry stakeholders particularly about the opportunities for reducing saturated fat levels in foods and also looking at the energy density of foods, which includes both looking at reformulation and looking at reductions in portion size.

Health committee  Could we provide that information separately? I would think it is in the order of £1.5 million. We would prefer to confirm that figure afterwards to make sure we're absolutely accurate, but it is of that order.

Health committee  It was “eat well”. We have a whole website called our “eat well” website, which covers a wealth of advice to consumers. It boils down to eight particular pieces of advice, which include cutting down on high-salt foods, cutting down on high-saturated-fat foods, cutting down on high-sugar foods, and looking in those areas—for instance, looking in dairy foods—for low-fat options.

Health committee  There's separate legislation for baby foods, which defines the levels of salt, sugar, and other nutrients allowed in those foods. That's mandatory legislation. What we're talking about here is the voluntary provision of information on what I guess you'd call family foods.

Health committee  Yes, that's right. The legislation on baby foods is quite prescriptive about the levels of nutrients that are allowed in those particular specialist foods. That is statutory legislation. So all the foods on the shelves must meet those restrictions.

Health committee  We've developed criteria for each of those four key nutrients: fats, saturated fat, salt, and sugar. Actually that's probably an easier exercise than trying to combine the information on those different nutrients into a single set of criteria. Again, working alongside stakeholders, taking scientific advice and consulting with all our stakeholders, we developed criteria for low, medium, and high for each of those four key nutrients.