Commission revises front of pack labelling proposals

The European Commission (EC) may accept a smaller font size than the 3mm prescribed in its original Food Information regulation (FIR) mandatory front of pack proposals, it emerged last week.

EC head of food law, nutrition and labelling, Basil Mathioudakis, said he was prepared to accept some reduction in font size, since legibility was the most important factor. However, he stressed: “We believe the issue of having a minimum font size is of paramount importance.” He was speaking at a food labelling debate organised for the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) in Brussels,

The original proposal had been for a mandatory 3mm font size and significant contrast, with an exemption for small packages. But discussions are now focusing on a minimum font size of 1.2mm (based on the height of a lower case ‘x’) with further guidance on clarity.

Around 1,200 amendments have been tabled to the original FIR proposals. 600 of these were to be discussed by the European Parliament’s (EP’s) Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) on February 16. “We are masters of amendments,” said Renate Somer, EP rapporteur for the proposed legislation. Somers tabled over 140 amendments herself last year. She described the 3mm proposals as “ridiculous”

Somers is also vehemently against “Member States dictating” voluntary national front of pack labelling schemes​ in addition to the mandatory information provided under the FIR. Such national schemes would include the UK Food Standards Agency’s multiple traffic light front of pack proposal.

While supposedly voluntary, Somers feared national schemes would become mandatory by default. It was a view supported by FDF director general Melanie Leech: “There is no case for nationally dictated voluntary schemes for industry - it is just a nonsense.”

However, Somers supported the continuance of different industry labelling schemes. She also wanted non-prepacked foods exempted from the regulations, although accepted the need to label allergy information. “It is absolutely wrong to overload food packs with information as the Commission proposes,” she said.