Fine Gael and Labour have backed the introduction of a "traffic light" labelling system to indicate the nutritional value of foods.
However, they admit such a system would have to be voluntary as, under EU competition laws, retailers and food processors cannot be compelled to comply with such a scheme.
Under their proposals, consumers would be provided with information on fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt levels, using red, amber or green colour coding to indicate whether their nutrients are high, medium or low.
The parties say this labelling would allow shoppers to identify quickly whether a product is a healthy option or one that is high in fat, sugar or salt.
In the UK, food labelling is currently the subject of a major confrontation between government and industry, where the Food Standards Authority, supported by some retailers, is promoting the "traffic light" system while many large retailers and processors favour a rival system providing information on percentage "guideline daily amounts" (GDA) of fat, sugar and salt.
Items labelled with both systems are already on sale in Ireland through Marks and Spencer, which favours the "traffic light" system, and Tesco, which uses the GDA system.
In Ireland, the Food Safety Authority has canvassed views on food labelling but the Government has no plans to introduce a scheme of labelling unless one is proposed on an EU-wide basis.
Launching their policy yesterday, Fine Gael's agriculture and food spokesman Denis Naughten said Irish labelling laws left "a lot to be desired" and the Government's refusal to reform the system was "condemning consumers to shopping blindfolded".
"At the moment, up to 11 different types of information are displayed on processed food products so it's easy to understand how food shopping can become a confusing business."
Industry critics of the traffic light scheme say it would result in everyday food such as cheese being classified as unhealthy. However, Labour's Mary Upton said the aim was to steer consumers towards healthier options such as low-fat cheese and to ensure they ate red-coded products sparingly.
" Traffic light labelling is a consistent way of highlighting how much fat, sugar and salt a food contains to make it simpler for people to put healthy advice into practice when shopping."
The average busy shopper had seven seconds to scan a label, she said, so it was important nutrition information was displayed in a readily understandable way.
In Britain, sales of unhealthy food have dropped by up to 40 per cent since the introduction of traffic light labelling.
