Council Takes Next Step on Food Labelling Rules
EU - The proposed regulation on nutritional labelling of foods received Council approval yesterday, 21 February. Country of origin labelling (COOL) is to be included if 'the failure to do so would mislead consumers'.The Council has adopted its first-reading-position on a draft regulation on food
information to consumers. This new piece of legislation aims to ensure that food labels
carry essential information in a clear and legible way, thereby enabling consumers to make
balanced and healthier dietary choices.
One of the key elements of the Council's position is the mandatory nature of the nutrition
declaration: the labelling of the energy value and of the quantities of fat, saturates,
carbohydrates, protein, sugars and salt would become compulsory.
As a general principle, the energy value and the amounts of these nutrients would have to
be expressed per 100g or per 100ml. They could, however, also be indicated as a
percentage of reference intakes. Food business operators could also use additional forms of
expression or presentation as long as certain conditions are met (e.g. they do not mislead
consumers and are supported by evidence of consumer understanding). All elements of the
nutrition declaration should appear together in the same field of vision but some of them
may be repeated on the 'front of pack'.
The Council's position also provides that the labelling of the country of origin would, as at
present, be compulsory if the failure to do so would mislead consumers. Moreover,
compulsory labelling of the country of origin would be requested for several types of meat
(pork, lamb, and poultry), subject to implementing rules. In addition, the Commission
should submit within three years after the entry into force of the new regulation a report
examining the possible extension of the compulsory labelling of the country of origin to
further products (milk, milk used as an ingredient, meat used as an ingredient, unprocessed
foods, single-ingredient products, ingredients that represent more than 50 per cent of a food).
Non-prepacked food would be exempt from nutrition labelling, unless member
states decide otherwise at national level. Allergens, however, must always be indicated.
Finally, the Council fixed a minimum font size for the mandatory information on the
labelling which, added to other criteria, such as contrast, aims to ensure the legibility of the
labels.
The Council's position will now be forwarded to the European Parliament for its second
reading. The European Parliament adopted its first-reading position on 16 June 2010.