and we wonder why this country is in the mess its in - a lengthy email! Start at the bottom!
Basically I wrote to tesco and copied in the food agency on providing total carbs per pack. They obviously don't read or or want to understand the point I'm trying to make - yet to hear from Tesco and though have received a 'holding' letter:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Paul,
Thank you for your e-mail of earlier today. I believe that I answered your query in the first paragraph of my response. To recap; In the UK, the provision of nutrition information on food labels is voluntary unless:
· a nutrition claim such as ‘low in fat’ is made,
· a health claim such as ‘calcium helps build strong bones and teeth’ is made, or
· vitamins or minerals have been voluntarily added to a food.
The Food Standards Agency recognises that consumers find nutrition information useful and for this reason, we encourage all retailers and maufacturers to provide this information on back of pack. It may interest you to know that in January 2008, the European Commission published it's proposal for a new Regulation on the provision of food information for consumers which aims to update and simplify existing food labelling rules and bring the rules on general labelling and nutrition labelling into a single Regulation. In this proposal, it has been proposed that the provision of nutrition labelling be mandatory on all pre-packaged foods. Once agreed, the Regulation will be directly applicable in all Member States. Although negotiations on the proposed new Regulation has started, the discussions are expected to continue through 2009 and it is likely that the new Regulation will not be implemented until 2011 at the earliest. You can follow the progress of these negotiations through our website.
http://www.food.gov.uk/foodlabelling/ul ... proposals/
Kind Regards,
Eugenia Brides
Nutrition Division
Food Standards Agency
Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH
t: +44.20.7276.8014 f: +44.20.7276.8193
http://www.food.gov.uk | [email protected]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: <[email protected]>
cc:
Subject: RE: Letter to Tesco
Eugenia
I’m afraid you’ve missed the point I am making. If I wanted a lesson on what to eat and how to control my diabetes I would visit my specialist nurse or dietician.
I am asking tesco why they don’t have total carbs per meal on their snacks/sandwiches. Boots, M&S and most others that I have started buying from do and this is the information we need to work out how much insulin to take and to manage diabetes effectively.
I copied you in as I had hoped you would be appreciative of what I was asking Tesco to do (in providing information that was useable), and possibly provide some guidance to them on why this is important for people with dietary needs, rather than to me.
Best regards
Paul
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 18 June 2009 14:56
To: Paul
Subject: Letter to Tesco
Dear Paul,
Thank you for your letter of 26 May. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding. In the UK, the provision of nutrition information on food labels is voluntary unless:
· a nutrition claim such as ‘low in fat’ is made,
· a health claim such as ‘calcium helps build strong bones and teeth’ is made, or
· vitamins or minerals have been voluntarily added to a food.
The manner of presenting nutrition information is defined in the Food labelling Regulations 1996 (as amended) (SI 1499), Schedule 7. Our national rules on nutrition labelling implement European Union legislation (Council Directive 90/496/EEC). Companies can use a short version (Group 1 nutrition labelling), which details the amounts of energy, protein, carbohydrate and fat in a product, or a longer version (Group 2 nutrition labelling). Group 2 nutrition labelling gives details of the energy, protein, carbohydrate, sugars, fat, saturates, fibre and sodium in the foodstuff. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommends that the longer version should be given on all pre-packaged foods.
Our general advice is that people with diabetes should try to maintain a healthy weight and eat a diet that is:
Low in Fat
Low in Sugar
Low in Salt
High in Fruit and Vegetables (at least five a day)
High in starchy carbohydrates, such as bread, chapatti, rice, pasta and yams (these should form the base of the meals) – choose wholegrain varieties where you can.
There are no foods that people with diabetes should never eat. And there is no need to cut out all sugar. But, like everyone, people with diabetes should try to eat only small amounts of foods that are high in sugar or fat, or both. If you have diabetes you can eat cakes and biscuits sparingly, as part of a balanced diet. Fruit juice is high in fructose (fruit sugar) so it can cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly. Because of this, it’s best to avoid having more than one small glass a day.
Look for the 'Carbohydrates (of which sugars)' figure in the nutrition information panel on labelling. The panel is usually found on the back of food packs. Sometimes you will only see a figure for 'Carbohydrates', and not for 'Carbohydrates (of which sugars)'. The 'Carbohydrates' figure will also include starchy carbohydrates so you can’t use it to work out if a food contains a high, medium or low amount of sugars. But you can still check the ingredients list to get a feel for whether the food is high in added sugars. For more information on sugar in the diet please visit the eatwell website: http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/f ... elem225160
The Food Standards Agency developed front of pack traffic light labelling to help you make healthier choices quickly and easily. These labels show you at-a-glance if the food you are thinking about buying has high, medium or low amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt. The label also tells you how much of each nutrient is in a portion, so if two labels have similar colours you can compare these figures, and choose the one that is lower to make a healthier choice. More information on traffic light labelling can be found at the link below: http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/trafficlights/
You may also find it useful to visit the Diabetes UK website, http://www.diabetes.org.uk, which has lots of useful advice on managing diabetes.
For more information on healthier eating, including the Eatwell: 8 tips for making healthier choices booklet, please see the following link:
http://www.food.gov.uk/aboutus/publicat ... lications/
I Hope you find this information Helpful,
Lind Regards,
Eugenia Brides
Nutrition Division
Food Standards Agency
Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH
t: +44.20.7276.8014 f: +44.20.7276.8193
http://www.food.gov.uk | [email protected]
Food Standards Agency (FSA)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Tesco.....
cc FSA
Hi,
Please can you tell me why you no longer put the carbohydrates (per serving) on your sandwiches?
You offer a calorie value per pack/serving and a carb value per 100g, but as I diabetic who has to count the carb contents of what I eat along with many hundreds of thousands of other people to enable us to take the correct amount of insulin, please can you add the carbohydrate value per serving?
Not just to sandwiches but to all of your lunchtime / snack products such as salad etc.
I have really been struggling with this since eating your products and this can really affect people with diabetes and result in poor control which can go on to affect eyes and nerves, even resulting in blindness.
I’m afraid I, probably like many others will have to stop buying these products from Tesco if this information cannot be readily available.
I will also send a copy of this letter to the Food Standards Agency for their info and hopefully it may encourage them to change information that retailers provide on products in future.
Thanks in anticipation.
Yours faithfully
Paul
Basically I wrote to tesco and copied in the food agency on providing total carbs per pack. They obviously don't read or or want to understand the point I'm trying to make - yet to hear from Tesco and though have received a 'holding' letter:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Paul,
Thank you for your e-mail of earlier today. I believe that I answered your query in the first paragraph of my response. To recap; In the UK, the provision of nutrition information on food labels is voluntary unless:
· a nutrition claim such as ‘low in fat’ is made,
· a health claim such as ‘calcium helps build strong bones and teeth’ is made, or
· vitamins or minerals have been voluntarily added to a food.
The Food Standards Agency recognises that consumers find nutrition information useful and for this reason, we encourage all retailers and maufacturers to provide this information on back of pack. It may interest you to know that in January 2008, the European Commission published it's proposal for a new Regulation on the provision of food information for consumers which aims to update and simplify existing food labelling rules and bring the rules on general labelling and nutrition labelling into a single Regulation. In this proposal, it has been proposed that the provision of nutrition labelling be mandatory on all pre-packaged foods. Once agreed, the Regulation will be directly applicable in all Member States. Although negotiations on the proposed new Regulation has started, the discussions are expected to continue through 2009 and it is likely that the new Regulation will not be implemented until 2011 at the earliest. You can follow the progress of these negotiations through our website.
http://www.food.gov.uk/foodlabelling/ul ... proposals/
Kind Regards,
Eugenia Brides
Nutrition Division
Food Standards Agency
Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH
t: +44.20.7276.8014 f: +44.20.7276.8193
http://www.food.gov.uk | [email protected]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: <[email protected]>
cc:
Subject: RE: Letter to Tesco
Eugenia
I’m afraid you’ve missed the point I am making. If I wanted a lesson on what to eat and how to control my diabetes I would visit my specialist nurse or dietician.
I am asking tesco why they don’t have total carbs per meal on their snacks/sandwiches. Boots, M&S and most others that I have started buying from do and this is the information we need to work out how much insulin to take and to manage diabetes effectively.
I copied you in as I had hoped you would be appreciative of what I was asking Tesco to do (in providing information that was useable), and possibly provide some guidance to them on why this is important for people with dietary needs, rather than to me.
Best regards
Paul
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 18 June 2009 14:56
To: Paul
Subject: Letter to Tesco
Dear Paul,
Thank you for your letter of 26 May. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding. In the UK, the provision of nutrition information on food labels is voluntary unless:
· a nutrition claim such as ‘low in fat’ is made,
· a health claim such as ‘calcium helps build strong bones and teeth’ is made, or
· vitamins or minerals have been voluntarily added to a food.
The manner of presenting nutrition information is defined in the Food labelling Regulations 1996 (as amended) (SI 1499), Schedule 7. Our national rules on nutrition labelling implement European Union legislation (Council Directive 90/496/EEC). Companies can use a short version (Group 1 nutrition labelling), which details the amounts of energy, protein, carbohydrate and fat in a product, or a longer version (Group 2 nutrition labelling). Group 2 nutrition labelling gives details of the energy, protein, carbohydrate, sugars, fat, saturates, fibre and sodium in the foodstuff. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommends that the longer version should be given on all pre-packaged foods.
Our general advice is that people with diabetes should try to maintain a healthy weight and eat a diet that is:
Low in Fat
Low in Sugar
Low in Salt
High in Fruit and Vegetables (at least five a day)
High in starchy carbohydrates, such as bread, chapatti, rice, pasta and yams (these should form the base of the meals) – choose wholegrain varieties where you can.
There are no foods that people with diabetes should never eat. And there is no need to cut out all sugar. But, like everyone, people with diabetes should try to eat only small amounts of foods that are high in sugar or fat, or both. If you have diabetes you can eat cakes and biscuits sparingly, as part of a balanced diet. Fruit juice is high in fructose (fruit sugar) so it can cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly. Because of this, it’s best to avoid having more than one small glass a day.
Look for the 'Carbohydrates (of which sugars)' figure in the nutrition information panel on labelling. The panel is usually found on the back of food packs. Sometimes you will only see a figure for 'Carbohydrates', and not for 'Carbohydrates (of which sugars)'. The 'Carbohydrates' figure will also include starchy carbohydrates so you can’t use it to work out if a food contains a high, medium or low amount of sugars. But you can still check the ingredients list to get a feel for whether the food is high in added sugars. For more information on sugar in the diet please visit the eatwell website: http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/f ... elem225160
The Food Standards Agency developed front of pack traffic light labelling to help you make healthier choices quickly and easily. These labels show you at-a-glance if the food you are thinking about buying has high, medium or low amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt. The label also tells you how much of each nutrient is in a portion, so if two labels have similar colours you can compare these figures, and choose the one that is lower to make a healthier choice. More information on traffic light labelling can be found at the link below: http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/trafficlights/
You may also find it useful to visit the Diabetes UK website, http://www.diabetes.org.uk, which has lots of useful advice on managing diabetes.
For more information on healthier eating, including the Eatwell: 8 tips for making healthier choices booklet, please see the following link:
http://www.food.gov.uk/aboutus/publicat ... lications/
I Hope you find this information Helpful,
Lind Regards,
Eugenia Brides
Nutrition Division
Food Standards Agency
Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH
t: +44.20.7276.8014 f: +44.20.7276.8193
http://www.food.gov.uk | [email protected]
Food Standards Agency (FSA)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Tesco.....
cc FSA
Hi,
Please can you tell me why you no longer put the carbohydrates (per serving) on your sandwiches?
You offer a calorie value per pack/serving and a carb value per 100g, but as I diabetic who has to count the carb contents of what I eat along with many hundreds of thousands of other people to enable us to take the correct amount of insulin, please can you add the carbohydrate value per serving?
Not just to sandwiches but to all of your lunchtime / snack products such as salad etc.
I have really been struggling with this since eating your products and this can really affect people with diabetes and result in poor control which can go on to affect eyes and nerves, even resulting in blindness.
I’m afraid I, probably like many others will have to stop buying these products from Tesco if this information cannot be readily available.
I will also send a copy of this letter to the Food Standards Agency for their info and hopefully it may encourage them to change information that retailers provide on products in future.
Thanks in anticipation.
Yours faithfully
Paul
