Unilever 'Choice' logo to flag up health benefits

by Joanna Bowery, Marketing 07-Nov-06, 08:30

LONDON - Unilever is to become the first major food manufacturer in the UK to embrace the controversial nutrient profiling food-labelling system.

A logo to be introduced next year will flag up products that the company deems healthy. Only 45% of its food products, including Bertolli extra virgin olive oil and Flora pro.activ margarine, would fit this criterion.

The logo -- a blue circle featuring a big blue tick with a sun rising over it, the words "My choice" and the strapline "based on international dietary guidelines" -- will appear next year on foods that pass Unilever's own nutrient benchmarks for trans fats, saturated fats, salt and sugar.

The introduction of the standard in the UK follows its successful launch in the Netherlands last year. The company aims to introduce the "My choice" label in all regions by the end of 2008. It is currently rolling it out in the US.

Unilever's strategy pits it against the majority of the UK food industry which has so far refused to divide its products into "healthy" or "unhealthy" categories. It will, however, please lobbying groups such as Sustain.

Ofcom is about to announce its revised rules on TV advertising of food to children. Some of its proposals use the NP system.

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