Parma ham, Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano are among the victims of the UK’s so-called ‘traffic light label’, according to Italian farmers’ association Coldiretti.
The group has criticised the EU for failing to block the traffic-light labelling system, which, it says, "unfairly affects 60 per cent of Italian production with wrong and misleading information".
The warning was issued on the eve of the Council of Agriculture Ministers in Brussels, which is expected to discuss the consequences of using traffic-light labelling, as requested by Italy, among other countries.
The traffic-light label includes visual information on nutrient content, combined with a colour and the daily percentage of intake.
Because of the nutritional labelling system adopted by the UK, with red, yellow or green stickers to indicate nutritional content, pre-portioned Parmigiano Reggiano has lost 13 per cent of market share in volume from 2013 to 2015, while the drop for Parma ham was 14 per cent, according to research compiled by Nomisma.
Coldiretti said that the traffic light signalling for fat, salt and sugar content is not based on the amount actually consumed, but only on the presence of certain substances.
The system, claimed the association, ends up excluding healthy foods from diets and instead promotes things like sugar-free carbonated beverages, misleading consumers on the actual nutritional value.
Coldiretti president Roberto Moncalvo has expressed concern that this decision was adopted by 98 per cent of UK supermarkets, "hindering the free movement of goods and endangering some key sectors of Italian exports to the UK".
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
