A NEW drive to urge people to stack their shopping trollies with healthier foods could help tackle Southampton’s shocking premature death rates, an academic has said.

New food labels boasting an eye-catching traffic light coding system were launched yesterday.

They have been adopted by supermarkets and food companies in a last ditch bid to tackle the national obesity epidemic.

Last night University of Southampton public health nutrition expert Professor Barrie Margetts praised the initiative – which features the maximum amounts of fats, saturated fats, salt, sugar and calories in food – as quicker and easier to read than previous recommended daily amounts labels.

Professor Margetts said: “It’s a small step in the right direction which should make it easier.

“At present it’s really confusing and difficult to relate to how much you eat, and if you are busy mother with children you are not going to be able to make choices unless the labelling is clear.”

He also backed the Daily Echo’s Staying Alive campaign, urging Sotonians to adopt a healthier and more active lifetstyle.

We launched our campaign in response to shocking figures revealing that 13,000 Hampshire residents died early from the four “major killers” - cancer, heart disease and stroke, lung disease and liver disease - between 2009 and 2011.

He added: “We can’t afford to let things carry on like this; it’s costing the health service so much money.

“If we all live a healthier lifestyle we will be physically fitter and the quality of life will be so much better – it’s something we need to do collectively, not as individuals, and anything that helps people do that should be welcome.”