The chief executive of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has reportedly said that chip shops, sandwich bars and restaurants will soon start displaying supermarket-style nutritional information.

Tim Smith, who was appointed by the FSA in November and took up his post this March, told the Observer newspaper that details on the fat, salt, sugar and calorie contents of food would have to be made highly visible, either on menus, behind the counter or on packaging.

“The current situation, where a few outlets carry such information on their website or in a leaflet, isn’t good enough,” Smith was reported as saying. “We need action here and we need it quickly.”

However, there are fears the system may not be easily implemented. A spokesperson for the British Hospitality Association (BHA) said: "We believe this is a very difficult area and it depends what nutritional information may be required. No kitchen offering a varied menu of made-up meals would be able to provide the kind of analysis that appears on supermarket ready meals without a full-time nutritionist – clearly a non-starter.

"A complicating factor would be the size of the portions used. The BHA is in favour of providing consumer information, but whether the consumer wants this kind of information on menus is very doubtful. We are in discussions with the FSA about this."

Leisure Opportunities reported in March this year that Yo! Sushi, the Japanese restaurant chain, had already adopted the FSA’s colour-coded traffic light labelling approach, similar to the system used by supermarkets.