The Consumer Protection Society (CPS) has called on the Kingdom's food outlets to list the calorie content of their meals and label them in colors similar to traffic lights. The step comes after a recent study revealed that a shocking 70 percent of Saudis are overweight. The CPS has called on caterers to adopt a special “Traffic Light System” to help consumers make healthier food choices. Under this system, food and beverage packaging will be clearly labelled with its calorie content, protein, fat and carbohydrate percentages. Healthy foods will be marked green, moderately healthy foods will be marked orange, while high calorie content fast foods such as burgers and fries will be marked red. “Restaurants, cafeterias and coffee shops which comply with the directive will be rewarded with special incentives such as a trust mark,” the CPS said in a statement. However, it indicated that it would urge the public “to boycott those companies which refuse to list the calorie contents of their food.” The traffic light system is part of efforts to tackle the alarming rise of obesity in the Kingdom. In 2010, a World Health Organization report revealed that the average male body mass index was 26.6kg/m2, while that of women's was 28kg/m2. This is leading to a rise in Type-2 diabetes, which in turn leads to high rates of cardiovascular disease, kidney failure and amputations in the Kingdom.
