5 A Day logos set to cause ‘confusion’

The Government is to allow retailers to run their own Five A Day logos in conjunction with its own Department of Health logo, a move that the Consumers Association (CA) has branded “confusing”.

The DoH is planning to launch its Five A Day logo, which represents the five daily portions of fruit and vegetable people should be eating, on March 25. The logo will not be used to endorse processed foods. But retailers such as Sainsbury’s and Tesco use their own endorsement logos on some ready-made foods, and they will not be asked to ditch them when the DoH’s logo launches.

CA principal policy adviser Sue Davis says: “The Five A Day logo sounds like a good initiative, but our concern is that consumers should be able to trust the claims that have been made on food items. We would like to have a consistent message across the board so as not to confuse consumers.”

The DoH says that the Government is planning to develop the logo as an umbrella brand for retailers to use. A spokeswoman says: “The new logo will not exclude those retailers which already are using their own Five A Day endorsement.” The Government has also set up a technical group to determine how processed and composite food can fit the criteria.

The DoH is seeking partnerships with health-related charities to raise public awareness of issues related to healthy eating.