Changes to flour labelling laws could create trade barriers and prejudice consumers against products made with UK wheat flour, trade associations have warned.
UK manufacturers do not currently have to label the nutrients they are obliged by law to add to white and brown wheat flour such as calcium, iron, niacin and thiamine.
However, this could change under a new European Regulation on food information, a draft version of which is expected later this year following an EU-wide review of food labelling legislation by the European Commission.
If manufacturers wanted to avoid having to name all of these fortificants on food labels, they should respond to a Food Standards Agency (FSA) regulatory impact assessment consultation, said the FSA. If certain derogations or UK-specific provisions did not feature in the new Regulation, “UK food businesses might have to comply with additional labelling requirements, which may result in additional costs, some of which may be significant, particularly for some small businesses”, it warned.
If the fortificants had to be named on labels, “there may be a small loss in trade to those countries that were previously unaware of the fortificants and are highly adverse to consuming fortified products, reducing or eliminating their imports from the UK in the light of this knowledge”, it said.
Some UK customers might also be put off because they did not actually realise that flour was fortified and believed that new ingredients were suddenly being added to flour, it added. “Some UK consumers may therefore choose to avoid product made with fortified flour.”
While more detailed labelling could facilitate “consumer informed choice”, it would affect a wide range of food categories and lead to longer ingredient lists, noted the agency.
The UK Bread and Flour Regulations (1998) require the mandatory addition of calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin to white and brown wheat flour. Flour to which these nutrients have been added need only indicate ‘flour’ in the ingredients list.
To respond to the consultation, log on to:
http://www.food.gov.uk/consultations/ukwideconsults/2007/uklabelling2007