New food labelling rules to come into effect in Europe

New European food labelling rules are coming into effect this week will help consumers have accurate and comprehensive information on food content.

The new labels will carry allergens prominently in the ingredients list. Statements such as ‘Contains: milk, nuts’ will no longer be used on the packs. However, precautionary labelling such as ‘May contain: milk, nuts’ will continue to be featured.

The new regulation requires a minimum font size for mandatory information in order to increase legibility.

Information on nutrition has become a mandatory requirement. This information will be carried on the food products on the ‘back of pack’. The nutrient content will indicated as per 100g.

On the other hand, the ‘front of pack’ labelling will remain voluntary and there are new requirements to increase consistency and aid usage.

Any specific kinds of vegetable oils contained within a food or drink will be indicated in the ingredients list.

From April next year, labels will carry the origin of unprocessed meat on-pack following an extension of country of origin labelling.

The Food and Drink Federation, a body representing the UK food and drink manufacturing industry, claimed that since the EU Food Information to Consumers (EU FIC) Regulation was published in the EU Official Journal in 2011, the food and drink producers have been updating labelling across their products.

The industry has been working to the main implementation deadline of 13 December, though several transition periods still apply.

Food and Drink Federation director for regulation, science and health Barbara Gallani said: "Food and drink labelling helps make informed purchasing decisions by enabling individuals to check, compare and choose between similar products. Consumers have long had access to considerable product information on-pack, including nutrition information which has been voluntarily provided by UK food and drink producers for nearly a decade.

"With its wide-ranging changes, the EU FIC has introduced the biggest change to on-pack labelling for the modern food industry and FDF members have been working to make sure that their product labels are compliant ahead of tomorrow’s deadline."

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Image: The new labels will carry accurate and comprehensive information on food content. Photo: courtesy of Stuart Miles / freedigitalphotos.net.