FIR compromise cuts pressure on UK food firms
The European Parliament (EP) and Council have agreed a compromise on the long-awaited EU-wide regulation after a final trilogue meeting on June 14.
Technical meetings to hammer-out the precise text will now be held on June 20 and June 22, with the full EP reading and vote due on July 4-7.
Front of pack labelling
Stuart Shotton, consultancy services manager, FoodChain Europe, said a move to implement mandatory nutritional labelling had been expected, “however, the move from mandatory front-of-pack labelling is a surprise”, with a voluntary system good news for UK producers.
Mandatory nutrients that will need to be listed in a fact box include energy, salt, sugar, protein and carbohydrates values, which Shotton pointed out that the UK food industry already provides.
Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) information would continue to be voluntary, Shotton said, a move he said was sensible given that the format in which nutritional and front of pack information is provided can vary significantly.
“Some producers use GDA percentages, some use the UK traffic light system, others provide the nutritional content per 100g/ml and/or per serving,” he said.
Fat label cut
Trans fatty acid labelling has also been struck out, and Shotton said EU food firms – which have already cut hydrogenated oils/fats voluntarily – would welcome a move that would remove the need to start analysing trans fats to provide such information.
Nonetheless, the provisional agreement retains a provision for the EC to report on the presence of trans fatty acids in foods within three years, retaining the right to legislate on this issue if necessary.
Provision Trade Federation director general Clare Cheney told FoodManufacture.co.uk: "With trans fatty acids we were concerned because they are naturally occurring in dairy products, so it would have been ridiculous to have a requirement on those, the levels are so small."
Are we COOL?
Another heated issue was COOL, with its compulsory introduction for all foodstuffs supported by the EP; the requirement has been retained for sheep, pig, goat and poultry meat, in line with previous legislation.
Processed meat products, milk, milk used as an ingredient, unprocessed foods, single ingredient products and ingredients that represent more than 50% of a food will now be subject to a Committee report that will decide whether to extend the rules.
Shotton explained the majority of the industry already provides the country of origin of meat on packaging, but the provisional agreement has no provision for products born, reared and slaughtered in different countries.
“There is a chance industry would be required to not only change their labelling, but to ensure that enhanced origin information is supplied throughout the food chain, which is likely to incur additional cost,” he said.
Cheney said she thought "common sense had prevailed" over the FIR compromise as a whole, subject to concerns she still had over a possible extension of COOL, where she said the new position was "more or less what we have at the moment".
