Nevertheless, the food companies argue that the traffic-light system is too simplistic and likely to scare people away from certain products that are fine if consumed in moderation or in conjunction with plenty of exercise--which most observers, including the medical profession, agree is crucial for anyone wanting to stay in shape. They also point out that they have competitors  to  worry  about—namely  the  big  supermarket  chains  with  their  own-label  products.  Last April,  Tesco, the biggest of these, announced that it was rejecting the traffic-light system in favour of a less stark “signposting” approach. Its rivals fear that adopting colour-coding could put them at a competitive disadvantage.

然而，食品公司辩称，“红绿灯”方法过于简单，某些产品会因此吓跑消费者，而这些产品如果食用适量或者结合充分锻炼，对人都是十分有益的，而且包括医学专家在内的大多数观察人士都认为，这些食品对于任何想要保持好体形的人而言都至关重要。同时，他们还指出，他们要顾及一些竞争者，也就是那些对产品加上各自标注的大型超市连锁店的做法。去年四月，最大一家超市连锁店 Tesco 宣布，他们反对采用“红绿灯”方法，取而代之的是一种更为灵活的“路标”法。因此，食品公司担心，若采用颜色编码（也就是红绿灯法），会令他们在竞争中处于劣势。

Better labeling has become an important weapon of the food giants’ armoury as they fight back against their critics. In October  2005  McDonald’s,  the  world’s  largest  fast-food  company,  said  it  would  start  printing  nutritional  facts  on the packaging of its burgers and fries, including the fat, salt, calorie and carbohydrate content. Before that, information about big-sellers such as the Big Mac, which contains 30g of fat, could only be found on the firm’s website or in leaflets.