Label clarity should be leader of the pack
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) Board last week agreed that clarity of front-of-pack food labelling was more important than a “proscriptive” minimum size for text used on packs, as proposed by the European Commission (EC) as part of the new food information regulation.
The FSA’s position on this and other aspects of EC proposals under the new regulation will be shared with other government departments with a view to informing the UK’s negotiating position when ministers begin discussing it under the French EU presidency in September.Describing what the objectives of the new regulation should be all about, Stephen Pugh, head of the FSA’s Labelling Standards Division, said: “It is about better regulation and it needs to be sustainable regulation and things like clarity need to be addressed … We need a more holistic approach to clarity.”
Rather than simply adopting a minimum font size, which would mean a minimum font height of 3mm under current EC proposals, the Board accepted expert industry advice that to make labels easy to read, other aspects such as text and background colours and line spacing were as important - if not more so - than font size.
The FSA’s own guidance is currently for font size to be a minimum of eight points, which is equivalent to about 1.8mm. Pugh said there was also the issue of very small packs: “3mm isn’t going to work on small smaller packs,” he said. “But there is an onus on us to prove clarity.”
The Board also felt that the EC’s proposals on country of origin information should be more focused and only deal with products where consumers are experiencing possible confusion. Pugh cited examples where country of origin labelling might cause more confusion than enlightenment.
One example was mixed vegetables in packs, which might be sourced from several countries and change with seasonal availability. Another concerned Scottish salmon and broccoli quiche: the salmon might be Scottish, but what happens if the broccoli comes from New Covent Garden market, he asked. In contrast, if a product was labelled as British bacon but was made using Dutch pigs, he said there was more of a case for country of origin labelling.
While Board members believed that EU Member States should be required to label allergens in food sold loose, such as in restaurants, cafés, and delis, they said that each country should be free to decide how this was practically delivered.
The Board also felt that the requirements on ingredients lists for food should be extended to cover all alcoholic drinks. At the moment the proposal only covers ‘pre-mixed’ drinks such as alcopops and not wine, beer and spirits. The Agency stated that the labelling rules on alcohol should be consistent and that energy declarations should also be given on labels.
