A corollary of having one of the most multicultural populations on the planet is that each community has its own favourite food. Any large supermarket has a bewildering range of food products from all over the world, spanning Filipino noodles, British Hobnobs, South African biltong, Indian ghee and so on.
The only downside of this culinary mix is that the food labelling is similarly diverse, although most imports bear a sticker spelling out the Arabic translation of the ingredients – usually either covering the original list or the cooking instructions.
This presents an opportunity for simpler labelling along the lines of the traffic light system used in Abu Dhabi’s Weqaya nutrition programme, where green is food that is healthy for you and red is food that should only be consumed as a treat. After all, consumers can only make the right choices if they are given the appropriate information to make informed decisions about what they eat.
