Those were the views of two speakers at an ‘Understanding the Food Information Regulation’ conference organised by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) in London this week.
According to the EU, the FIR – published in 2011 – is designed to make food labelling easier to understand for consumers.
The regulation combines rules on general food and nutrition labelling into a single EU regulation. Transitional arrangements set out in the FIR mean the bulk of the requirements will not apply until 2014, with nutrition labelling becoming mandatory in 2016.
However, with that first deadline a little more than a year away, Alasdair Tucker, head of regulatory affairs at Premier Foods and chairman of the FDF food law and labelling committee, said there was still much to learn.
“This is the not the finished article,” he said. “We know a lot but we need to learn a lot more about FIR and about how it will be applied.
A new-born baby
“We are on a journey and if we compare it to a new-born baby, we are at the toddler stage. Not a lot of information has yet got out to the consumer but there is plenty of activity going on behind the scenes.”
A lot of the gaps in knowledge concern meat products, both around country of origin labelling (COOL) and around formulation.
Helen Gillen, FDF food law and labelling manager, said there was still much debate around which meat products would have to be labelled ‘with added water’. The FIR states this must be done if added water constitutes 5% or more of the total weight.
Similarly, if a product gives the impression of being a whole slice or a joint of meat when it is actually formed from more than one cut, it must state so.
However, “there is still a lot of debate about which products are included”, she added. “Hopefully this will be clarified in the next couple of months with the publication of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ guidance.”
New allergen rules
There appears to be more concrete understanding around new allergen rules, added Chun-Han Chan from the Food Standards Agency.
She told delegates that allergens must be listed in a font size of 1.2mm if there is 80cm2 or more of packaging and be clearly distinguishable from other ingredients, such as in bold type.
However, one issue that won’t be enshrined in the legislation concerns the use of ‘may contain ...' statements on packs in relation to allergens.
Chan said she expected to see significant developments in this area next year.
Work aimed at setting agreed, EU-wide ‘action levels’ for allergens was gathering pace, she added, with one paper already drafted and ready for peer review.
It was hoped that some of the information would be released next year, outlining thresholds on a voluntary basis for manufacturers to adhere to.
Chan said this strategy was far preferable to legislation, in the first instance. “If the voluntary approach goes well then we can look at legislation, but we shouldn’t rush into it now,” she said. “Getting into legislation is much easier than getting out of it.”