Food information: how much is too much?
This year has been a very busy year from a regulatory perspective for the EU food sector. Legislation has been developed on additives, enzymes and flavourings. The Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation as well as the Regulation on the addition of nutrients to foods have become applicable.
Some of their provisions are still under development, for example nutrient profiles, positive lists of authorised health claims and the maximum levels for vitamins and minerals. And the European Commission is still expected to table two other legislative proposals: one on novel foods and a Regulation on the provision of food information to consumers.
A draft of this proposal for a Food Information Regulation is available and gives a picture of the challenges ahead for the food industry. The proposal aims to simplify and clarify food labelling legislation. It updates and integrates into the same text different provisions currently included in a number of different pieces of legislation, including Directive 2000/13/EC on labelling, advertising and presentation of foodstuffs as well as Directive 90/496/EEC on nutrition labelling.
According to the draft proposal, the current mandatory information to be displayed on food product labels should remain. However, this information will have to be printed in characters of a minimum font size of eight points.
There is no doubt that providing legible information on labels is an important tool for the food industry. But legislators should realise that the amount of information that must be provided is already considerable and it may be difficult for many products to comply with this obligation to use a minimum font size. In certain cases, the only solution left may be to increase the size of the packaging.
This would result in unnecessary costs and undesired increases in packaging waste - which clearly goes against other EU legislation aiming to reduce packaging waste. Strangely, the proposal fails to mention alternative less costly and more environment-friendly tools to inform consumers, such as the internet or information panels at the point of purchase.
In addition to the current mandatory information, the proposal would also make mandatory the indication of the energy value and the amounts of fat, saturates, sugars and salt present in the product. This information would have to be provided per 100g or per 100ml. A per portion declaration would be additional, unless the product was pre-packed as an individual portion or unless a 'standard portion' had been established nationally. However, the mandatory nutrition declaration must also be expressed as a percentage of the reference intakes indicated in the proposal.
To complicate things even more, this mandatory nutrition declaration would have to be displayed "in the principal field of vision of the package" - in other words, on the front of the pack. This will also have to be printed in a font size of at least eight points.
Another element of this proposal would be the establishment of a 'food information governance system' which aims to facilitate the adoption and implementation of 'national schemes'. These would ensure the application of the essential requirements of the food information law. In other words, Member States would be able to adopt national standards or recommendations on, for example, the specific format and symbols that could be used by industry to present mandatory nutrition information. This would cover, for example, the controversial UK 'traffic-lights' system.
For many small and medium sized companies these proposals are exactly the kind of Christmas gift the industry could do without.
''Miguel da Silva is an adviser at European Advisory Services (EAS) in Brussels, which specialises in European and international regulation on food and nutritional products.
Contact him on +32 2 218 1470''
