NUTRITIONAL LABELLING OF FOOD

That this House notes that obesity rates in the UK are rising; believes that appropriate consumer information and education are essential in countering the trend; supports EU directives requiring products to list their ingredients; welcomes the further labelling of food products with additional nutritional information such as calorific values and levels of sugars, fats and salt; is concerned about reports of inaccuracies in these values; believes that inaccuracies not only lower consumer confidence but also remove the ability of individuals to make informed choices about their health and the food they eat; calls on the Food Standards Agency to examine the veracity of labels; and further calls on the Government to bring forward legislation to allow the penalising of companies making misleading claims about their products.