Calorie labelling and nutrition information in catering

The average person eats one in every six meals out of home and, if snacks are added in, men consume about a quarter of their calories when eating out and women a fifth. Therefore, the choices that are made when eating away from home – whether at work, in cafes, fast food chains, restaurants or pubs – can go a long way to helping maintain a healthy diet and weight. One way of helping consumers make healthier choices when eating out is to provide nutrition information for the products that are being offered.

The potential benefits of this were highlighted in the Healthy Food Code of Good Practice (part of the Healthy Weight Healthy Lives: a cross-government strategy for England) and in the Food Matters Report, and are supported by qualitative research carried out for the Agency. The latter identified that people want to see clear and easy-to-use information at the point they choose what to eat.

In January 2009, the Agency announced that it was starting a programme of work to develop a voluntary calorie labelling scheme for the catering industry that is clear, effective and simple to understand.

In April 2009, the Agency published the names of 18 catering companies that had agreed to display calorie information, including workplace caterers, sit down and quick-service restaurants, theme parks and leisure attractions, pub restaurants, cafés and sandwich chains. A further three companies subsequently joined the scheme. Some of the companies have made a long-term commitment to providing calories on menus, while others are providing the information on a trial basis and in a limited number of outlets.

Over the summer 21 catering companies introduced calorie information in 450 stores across the UK to help consumers make healthier choice when eating out. Some examples of the calorie information can be seen by clicking on the company names or on the links at the bottom of the page.

The companies include a number of well-known high street names and several major contract caterers:

• 7 Day Catering – in staff restaurants
• Burger King
• Camden Food Co
• Chessington World of Adventures and Zoo, operated by Merlin Entertainment
• Compass Group UK and Ireland – in a number of Royal Mail staff restaurants
• Harvester restaurants and Scream pubs, operated by Mitchells & Butlers
• ISS Mediclean – in a number of London hospital restaurants
• KFC
• Marks & Spencer Cafés
• Nestlé UK staff restaurants
• Pizza Hut
• Pret A Manger
• Sainsbury’s Cafés
• Sodexo – in a number of client restaurants in its corporate and defence sectors
• Subway
• Tesco staff restaurants
• The Co-operative Expresso Bars
• The Real Greek
• Unilever staff restaurants (in partnership with Sodexo)
• Waitrose Cafés
• Wimpy

To ensure issues such as format and display of calorie information are consistent among catering businesses, the Agency asked businesses to follow a set of basic criteria, which included:

• displaying calorie information for most food and drink they serve
• printing calorie information on menu boards, paper menus or on the edge of shelves
• ensuring the information is clear and easily visible at the point where people choose their food

A poster has been developed to help staff in outlets participating in the initiative give basic information to customers.

An evaluation of the introduction of calorie labelling was carried out by independent research company TNS-BMRB. The work assessed consumers' understanding and use of calorie labelling, and gathered feedback from the restaurants themselves to look at practical issues and costs that were involved in providing the information.

A summary of the main findings shows that businesses were able to implement calorie labelling and any issues encountered along the way were overcome with relative ease. For consumers there were three factors that were found to impact on their capacity and inclination to use calorie information. These were:

• the visibility of calorie information
• understanding of recommended calorie allowances, energy expenditure and how these relate to healthy weight management
• consumer engagement, with consumers suggesting the impact of calorie information at the point of choice would increase over time as it becomes more commonplace and awareness increases

Consumers could also envisage using calorie information to enable them to make positive choices to maintain a healthy weight while still enjoying their favourite foods and food outlets.

The full evaluation report can be found at the links below.

The FSA has launched a consultation on the principles of a voluntary scheme for calorie labelling at point of choice in catering. The Agency has developed these principles in order to encourage continued and increased voluntary adoption of calorie labelling at point of choice across the catering industry, and to ensure a consistent approach that will help consumers make healthier choices. The proposed principles have been developed from the criteria used by businesses over the summer and are informed by the outcomes from the calorie labelling evaluation.

The consultation also seeks information on wider issues such as obtaining calorie information, and seeks individual business's experiences of providing nutrition information at point of choice.

A link to the consultation documents can found at the link below.

The Agency is also working closely with enforcement bodies to ensure catering businesses that introduce voluntary calorie labelling are supported in implementing processes that ensure the information they provide is as accurate as possible. LACORS, the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services, have published a statement setting out their position on calorie declarations in catering establishments and welcoming the initiative. The statement can be found at the link below.