Food manufacturers will now be encouraged to introduce the traffic lights system, where red, amber and green are used to alert the consumer to product health benefits, text warnings of high, medium or low and percentage Guideline Daily Amounts to the front of packaging.

Furthermore portion size information should be ‘realistic and not misleading'.

Jeff Rooker, FSA board chair, said: "The board was clear that it wanted a single approach to front of pack labelling that works. Tremendous progress has been made by industry in taking up front-of-pack labelling but different schemes are causing confusion to consumers. The board is very clear that the framework outlined today is an important step on the way to a single approach."

The FSA has stated that colour grading systems apart from the traffic lights system should not be adopted.

Ministers will be advised of the recommendations prior to a four to six week consultation on how to implement the FSA's guidelines.