By Tim Greenfield Groundbreaking new laws are on the cards to require labelling of food products sold in Bermuda.

The Department of Health is currently drafting a report which it hopes will become legislation, to ensure producers and importers provide food safety, nutritional, ingredient and health information on goods.

For the first time, it will let consumers have essential data on food to allow them to make better choices in selecting products, and will demand manufacturers back up claims made on labels.

If the laws are passed, which could be in 2001, then it will become mandatory for local and overseas producers and suppliers to clearly state what is in their products.

Chief Environmental Health Officer Estlyn Harvey said it will be the first time Bermuda has had laws demanding manufacturers come clean about their products.

"At present we don't have legislation on labelling, we are targeting local products as you cannot import foreign products unless they have got the correct labelling,'' she said.

"We had a voluntary code; some are complying but others are not.'' The proposed legislation will include information such as the name of the manufacturer, list of ingredients, additives, nutritional information, date coding and data to back up health claims.

Government nutritionist Cymone Hollis said there was a need for the public to become educated and aware about food -- enabling them to be better informed about what they eat.

She said the changes would be especially useful for people on special diets, enabling them to avoid certain foods that could be harmful to them -- for diabetes sufferers, or heart patients for instance.

In addition, people looking for foods for a healthy lifestyle would be able to see whether or not the claims on the product actually were as beneficial as stated.

"Our aim is to teach people how important label reading is,'' she said.

"Somebody might be allergic to nuts or eggs, they really need to know that, or somebody might be trying to stay healthy.

"Education is for those people who would like to know, a lot of people read but don't understand -- they just assume it is a good product.

"A list of ingredients is going to help people, if you have an allergic reaction that could kill you. Even for things like sugar, salt or fat, there are many different names for sugar.

"A lot of people don't realise the consequences of nutrition until it is too late.'' With label claims, particularly of health products, said Ms Hollis, it is important that the concentrations of fats, proteins or carbohydrates are listed, so consumers can see exactly how much they will benefit. Furthermore, it will allow them to compare with other products, which may have a similar affect.

"There are a lot of different claims, a lot of people say `this food is the be all and end all', but people don't know the full extent of eating it.''