Which? research reveals sandwiches from some retailers contain twice as much salt

The Government began a consultation this week on 'front of pack' nutrition labelling

The consumer group said that the traffic light system – where foods are labelled green for healthy and red for unhealthy – was needed to give customers clarity. Which? found that a Morrisons chicken salad sandwich contained 11.7 grams (0.4oz) of fat, compared with a Waitrose equivalent which had 6g. Waitrose uses the traffic light system while Morrisons does not.

A Lidl BLT has 3.36g salt – red on the traffic light system – but one from Boots has an amber level of 1.5g. Boots uses traffic light labelling, Lidl does not. An Aldi egg mayonnaise sandwich contains 22.3g fat (red/high) while one from Asda contains 10.1g (amber/medium). Asda uses traffic lights, Aldi does not, said Which?

The consumer group said the survey showed that, not only was there scope for levels of fat and salt to be reduced, but also a need for greater clarity in labelling.

The Government began a consultation this week on “front of pack” nutrition labelling.

Which? said it should insist that all food retailers and manufacturers adopt clear, “front of pack” labelling, including traffic lights, which it said was “the system found to best enable consumers to easily compare products with simple green, amber, or red colour coding of nutrient levels”.

Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which? said: “We want to see the Government insist that all food companies use traffic lights on their labels, so there is a clear, consistent system that makes it easier for people to make informed choices about what they eat.”