Bradford-based supermarket giant Morrisons has joined forces with other food companies to reject the Government-led "traffic light" food labelling scheme.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has brought in a packaging initiative in which healthy foods would be flagged up with a green label while those containing higher levels of salt and fat would get a "red for danger" brand.

But Morrisons is instead launching a £4 million campaign on Monday to promote its own take on how foods should be nutritionally labelled.

Product labels will show percentage of guideline daily amounts (GDA) of sugar, salt, fat and calories in each serving.

A spokesman for Morrisons said: "We agree with the FSA that there should be a clear and consistent approach to providing consumers with useful nutritional information; however we believe GDA signposting offers the best way of achieving this.

"It provides at a glance' information which helps people make informed choices about the foods they eat, and allows shoppers to easily compare the content of individual foods in order to choose healthier options."

The front of pack' GDA signposting will be available on more than 2,500 products under the Morrisons brands, including Free From', The Best' and Eat Smart'.

Other GDA supporters include Tesco, Somerfield, Unilever, PepsiCo, Masterfoods, Danone, Nestle, Coca-cola, Schweppes and Cadbury.

The traffic light scheme is backed by Sainsbury's, Waitrose, the Co-op, M&S and Asda.

The FSA supports the use of the labels, providing they are used with the colour coding system. A spokesman said: "Some consumers do like the extra information that GDAs provide. However, without a traffic light colour code, our research showed that shoppers can't always interpret the information quickly and often find percentages difficult to understand and see."

e-mail: ali.davies@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

WHAT YOU SAY

Doreen Craig, 60, Lytham Drive, Queensbury: "I don't really take much notice of what's written on the food, I just know what I am buying is healthy food. It's the way I have always done my shopping and I've always eaten healthily, it's common sense really.

But I think young people look more at what they are eating, it's the way they have been brought up."

Jamil Asghar, 34, of Lytton Road, Girlington: "I don't really read the labels, only look at whether things have meat in or things like gelatine because I am a Muslim. Nowadays, people have problems with high blood pressure and too much fat in their diet. I think supermarkets should be doing something which makes people be more healthy."

Brendan Cope, 72, of New Row, BD9, Bradford: "I don't buy processed food, I only eat fresh food, meats and vegetables - foods that have no added preservatives so the information isn't that necessary for me. Having said that, I am a widowed retired man with time on my hands to shop and cook. Working mums don't have as much time to cook so for them the information would be very useful.

I think the labels will be a good idea, providing the information is clear."

Balbir Kaur, 36, of Allerton, Bradford: "I don't normally look at labels, but at the moment, I am because my family are trying to be more healthy and so we want to know what is in the product. At the moment, I think some of the information on products about fats, salts and sugar units are not clear. If the breakdown was more simple, then maybe people would read them more regularly."

Margaret Arnett, 76, of Templars Way, Fairweather Green, Bradford: "If I want to lose weight, then I look at labels to see how high the food's fat content is, but other than that I don't really. It would be useful if the information about sugar and salt was easier to see, you would be able to see at a glance whether food was bad for you even if you were in a rush."

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