September 28, 2009 1:00pm by David Farrar

Defiant Consumers

Slapping a high-fat content label on food won’t stop people eating it, says a visiting nutrition expert.

Josephine Wills, European Food Information Council director general, says food labelling is useless without supporting education and advertising campaigns.

Guest speaker at this week’s Nutrition Foundation annual meeting, Wills says research shows consumers can identify healthy foods, “but they’re not acting on it”. In Europe, half of shoppers knew which foods had less salt, fat and sugar – but in a supermarket aisle, only between nine percent and 27 percent made the healthier choice. “Taste and price are the strongest drivers when it comes to food choice. Nutrition is a little bit lower down.”

Oh my God. Consumers are choosing on price and taste, not just nutrition.

Obviously this can not be allowed to continue. The state should decide what foods are acceptable and do the shopping for households.