Seward gave an alternative reason for why the signs were taken down in some of the Houses.

“Due to an administrative error outside of my control, the traffic light labels were put on a few items in Lowell and Winthrop for one to two days,” said Seward.

Currently, only Dunster and Mather dining halls feature the traffic light system.

This interaction between student projects, healthy labeling, and HUDS is not new, according to Crista Martin, Harvard University Dining Services director for marketing and communications.

“We had students do labeling projects related to nutrition concepts and sustainability concepts,” said Martin, pointing to a chart that appears in the dining halls providing information about the sugar content of various beverages, designed by the Harvard School of Public Health.

Seward’s program was incorporated at the Greenhouse Cafe throughout the 2013-2014 academic year, and was featured in Dunster’s dining hall during the spring semester.

Frank B. Hu, a professor of nutrition at the School of Public Health, said that he was not aware of any existing studies measuring the impact of a traffic light system on individuals with eating issues.

“The psychology of this system and whether this can cause any type of social stress and subsequently lead to eating problems, I am not aware of any data on this issue,” he said.

Corrigan said that, as individuals, ECHO staff members in Dunster and Mather intend to move forward by discussing the issue with their dining hall managers and resident deans.

–Staff writer Daniel R. Levine can be reached at daniel.levine@thecrimson.com.  Follow him on Twitter @danielrlevine.

–Staff writer Kamara A. Swaby can be reached at kamara.swaby@thecrimson.com.  Follow her on Twitter @SwabyK.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: November 13, 2014

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the nutrition label for whole wheat pasta. In fact, it is a "green" food. A paraphrased statement from Megan O. Corrigan ’16 including the error has been removed.