Food the Choice is Yours
Richard Sheaf, trading standards officer (TSO) at Hampshire County Council spoke on behalf of Kate Holmes, (TSO), Dr Paul Berryman (Head of Science and Food Standards) and Nigel Snape (Trading Standards Manager) about how Trading Standards have launched the healthy eating campaign: Food – the Choice is Yours
Summary
Research by a trainee Trading Standards officer highlighted a lack of a simple-to-use guide on how to interpret a food label. Hampshire County Council’s Health Agenda and the topicality of "Healthy Eating" in the media were key drivers for the launch of this new food campaign. There was also a desire to update the Hampshire County Council website to pull together all the food related activities into a one-stop-shop for information. As a result, Hampshire Trading Standards designed:
- A short guide on how to read a food label.
- A handy credit card - sized chart with information about recommended daily allowances for salt, fat and sugar. It describes what is "a lot" and "a little" of these three components, which are commonly found in many foods.
- A new website page within the Hampshire County Council site, which acts as a one stop shop for food information. www.hants.gov.uk/food
Project Name: Food – the Choice is Yours
Project Start Date: 2004
Project Location Type: Rural and city
Project Origins and original aims/Objectives and purpose of the project:
In addition to carrying out inspections of the many food businesses in Hampshire another role of the trading standards service is to help educate consumers about the meaning of food labels and to promote healthy eating.
The key drivers for including launching the campaign were:
- Hampshire County Council’s public health agenda – a key corporate priority.
- An opportunity for cross-cutting work across several HCC departments.
- The topicality of the nutrition labelling and healthy eating – media articles on early onset obesity and diabetes were on the increase.
- Research by a trainee TSO highlighted the lack of an easy-to-use guide. Consumers find marketing claims on our food labels such as "low fat" and "good for you" very confusing.
- A change in the Food Standards Agency monitoring regime. A move from inputs (e.g. inspections) to outcomes (e.g. via promotional activities and awareness campaigns).
- The Department of Health consultation, and subsequent White Paper, "Choosing Health", put healthy eating as a key priority.
- Surveys showed that the public found it difficult to interpret nutrition information on food labels. e.g. an FSA survey found that only 32% of participants could identify the main ingredient for a range of common foods (the 1st on the ingredients list).
- Increase awareness of the meaning of food labels
- Allow for consumers to make more informed choices, especially on healthy eating
Organisations Involved:
1. Hampshire County Council Trading Standards Service
2. Hampshire CC Economic Development
3. HCC Education
4. Hampshire Scientific Services
5. Hampshire Caterers
6. Hampshire Press Office
7. Hampshire Graphics and Hampshire Printing.
Target Audience:
Hampshire consumers and schools
Methodology:
The following three methods of informing the public about food labels were chosen:
Food Guide
It was agreed that it was important that consumers should be able to easily understand the basics of a food label. As highlighted by Food Standards Agency in Consumer Attitudes surveys in 2003 and 2004 there is an alarming proportion of the population who are unaware of the difference between where marketing claims made on foods ends and where the true meaning behind the food label begins.
Examples of leaflets on food labelling were collected together and examined to see whether there was a suitable guide that had already been devised that could be easily distributed. Disappointingly this was not the case and it was agreed that HCC TSD should set about writing their own.
To ensure that the booklet reflected the needs of the public
reference was made to data collected by the Food Standards Agency and it was decided that the following information in particular, needed to be set out in the leaflet:
- Name of the food – not always as obvious as one might think!
- ngredients list – the first one on the list is the greatest.
- Fruit juice – does adding the word "drink" make that much difference?
- Best before and Use by dates
- Nutritional information
Credit Card Size Guides
In addition to the booklets it was decided to develop smaller handy cards that could easily slip in and out of a wallet that would be useful for consumers to refer to when out shopping. On one side of the card is information on the daily requirements for men and women with regards to calories, fat, sodium and salt. On the other side is information about what is "a lot" and "a little" of sugar, fat, sodium and salt.
Web site http://www.hants.gov.uk/food
As part of the campaign a new website was set up. This has links to the County Council’s school meal provider, Food Standards Agency food alerts, Hampshire Scientific Service, and to Hampshire Fare and Hampshire Farmers Markets. In addition to this there is useful information about healthy eating and exercise with links to the Councils walking and cycling websites. Facts about services provided by Trading Standards and agriculture and feeding stuffs policy are also available. Copies of the leaflet "Food – the choice is yours" can be downloaded from this site.
Funding:
The costs of the project so far have been financed solely by Hampshire Trading Standards.
Printing costs were approximately £1500 for 10,000 guides and 10,000 cards. In addition to this were the design costs.
Officer time for the project has been at least 45 officer days so far…..
Recruitment:
A suitably qualified food officer needs to be involved to ensure that the information published is correct.
Activities / Sessions:
The booklets, guides and website were launched in January this year. Press releases were issued resulting in several press articles and radio interviews. The guides and cards are currently available in many County Council premises such as libraries and information centres. Presentations to colleagues in other relevant departments have also been made.
Other Resources:
For resources the most important has been the time that has been put in by Kate Holme, Richard Sheaf and Dr Paul Berryman. However in addition to this they have had access to the services of Andrea Sawyer, who works within Regulatory Services and has been able to design the website.
Sustainability:
The project intends to go on indefinitely. It is hoped that the publicity will encourage other organisations such as Primary Care Trusts to order the guides and cards, although dependent on numbers ordered there could be a charge.
Evaluation:
The uptake on the leaflets and cards will be an initial indication of the success of the project as will be the number of hits onto the website. Trading Standards have received very positive feedback about the project so far and on a more personal note those who have been involved in the project have been very pleased with their achievements so far.
Lessons learnt:
1. Very important to have top-management buy-in. In this case Paul Berryman – Head of Science and Food Standards and Nigel Snape - Trading Standards Manager originally initiated the work and have been very supportive throughout.
2. It takes more time than you think! Again without the support of management, and also from the rest of the staff who have in some cases taken on additional duties to allow those involved in the project more time, the project would not have got off the ground.
3. Despite working on this project for since last April it has taken a long time for results to show up – definitely worth it in the end though!
4. Check, check and recheck before giving the go-ahead for the printing.
5. All those involved in the project were very aware of the expertise that trading standards officers have to offer. Officers are experts in the field of labelling, they daily look at food labels, judge whether they are accurate and meet the complex laws that apply and this is the knowledge they have to offer the public. By giving the public the skills to understand food labels enables them to make an informed choice about the foods they want to buy. In turn this knowledge allows them to make clear decisions on what is and what isn’t a healthy food.
6. This was a great opportunity to work with other departments and external partners. There is great value in using networks like schools, libraries, information centres and the website to promote trading standards messages within a corporate context.
Future Developments:
It is planned to produce display materials for public events, including the Hampshire Youth Games in May and June (3000 children). These materials will be available for other departments to use e.g. Education. Information about the guides will also be published in the County’s free newspaper, which is distributed to 527,000 Hampshire homes.
The second phase of the project is to work with schools and the regional healthy schools co-ordinator has already agreed that the booklet and cards are suitable for secondary school children. The guides and cards will be distributed in the near future. A presentation on the campaign for around 80 school managers is scheduled for July.
A press release on nutritional testing by Hampshire Scientific Service is also planned. This will reference the publication of a new Which? Survey on interpreting nutrition information on food labels, for which HSS carried out all the tests.
Trading standards are also meeting with the Primary Care Trusts to request them to distribute the guides and cards within the local communities.
Finally, it is hoped to distribute leaflets via supermarkets and other major food outlets in Hampshire.
For further information about the work, or suggestions from others who have been involved in similar projects please feel free to contact Richard or Kate at the address below:
Name: Richard Sheaf, Kate Holme
Position: Trading Standards Officers
Address:
The Parkway,
96 Wickham Road,
Fareham,
Hampshire,
PO16 7JL
Telephone: 01329 316182
Email address: richard.sheaf@hants.gov.uk
Or kate.holme@hants.gov.uk
Website: www.hants.gov.uk/food