CALLS to make traffic light labelling on food and drink mandatory to help people eat healthier have been backed by councils in East Lancashire.

The Local Government Association (LGA) who have made the demand, said the system would help people make more 'informed choices' about the food they eat.

The traffic light label allows shoppers at a glance to find out how much fat, salt, sugar, saturates and calories each product contains.

This divides items into low, medium or high amounts of each, with the highest marked in red and lowest in green and amber in the middle.

European Union legislation currently regulates food and drink labelling, meaning the UK Government can only make recommendations to industry.

In 2013, the Department of Health introduced a voluntary traffic light scheme, but the LGA said they are only displayed on two thirds of products sold in the UK.

The move has now been backed by East Lancashire authorities including Rossendale Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council.

Cllr Barbara Ashworth, portfolio holder for health and housing at Rossendale Council, said: “As a Council, we are happy to lend our support to anything which may help to improve our Borough’s health.

"This won’t be a burdensome regulation for businesses and it’s not an example of the so-called nanny state – it’s simply giving more information to shoppers to make informed choices about the food and drink they buy.

“Recently, we called for it to be mandatory for food hygiene ratings are displayed at food outlets, once again showing this Council is not afraid to lobby to changes in the law which benefit our residents.

“We would hope our colleagues at Lancashire County Council, who have a responsibility for public health, would also lend their support to this campaign.”

Cllr Mohammed Khan, leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "We support anything that helps the public in making healthy, informed lifestyle choices.

"This would need to be clear information designed to make it easy for people to make steps to improve their health and wellbeing."

Cllr Shaun Turner, cabinet member for health and wellbeing at Lancashire County Council, said: "Traffic light labels are a great way for people to see how much fat, salt, sugar, saturates and how many calories food and drink contain at a glance.

"They help people to make informed and healthier choices about what they eat and drink and we support calls to make them mandatory."

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, chairman of the LGA’s community wellbeing board, said: “Any post-Brexit review of EU food laws gives the Government the opportunity to introduce legislation to standardise food labelling.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: "We're committed to giving consumers clear information about the food they eat, and over 70% of food and drink in the UK use our front of pack labelling scheme."

Public Health England figures between January 2013 and January 2016 show that close to 70 per cent of adults over the age of 18 were found to be either overweight or obese in Lancashire.