New food labelling rules ‘to come as a shock’

10-Feb-2014 - Last updated on 10-Feb-2014 at 10:06 GMT

Don't miss our free one-hour webinar, at 11am GMT on Thursday February 20, explaining what you need to know about the Food Information to Consumers Regulation

The huge number of labelling changes set out in the Food Information to Consumers Regulation (FIR) will come a shock to some firms, warns Reading Scientific Services.

“One of the issues is the sheer volume of changes,” Richard Flanagan, the organisation’s senior food safety and allergens consultant, told our sister publication Food Manufacture.

“I think everyone will have to change their labels to make them compliant,” said Flanagan, when interviewed for the feature article ‘Beat the clock’ in the February edition of the magazine. Food businesses will have to carry out major packaging redesigns to accommodate the requirements for ingredients and nutritional information, he added.

‘They need to standout’

For example, the box listing allergens, while familiar to consumers in the UK should be removed from products. “Allergens will need to be highlighted [in the main ingredients list] and they need to stand out,” said Flanagan.

To help food and drink manufacturers prepare for the mandatory changes – due to be enforced on December 13 2014, the Food Manufacture group is staging a free, one-hour webinar on the FIR to be staged on at 11am GMT on Thursday 20 February. See the end of this article for more details.

Meanwhile, technical support firm FoodChain Europe warns food and drink manufacturers to train more customer service employees to deal with a big increase in enquiries from confused customers searching for allergen information. Stuart Shotton, consultancy services director, said: “You may find that, even though allergens are highlighted, a lot of customers will ask where the information is.”

Read the full feature, first published in Food Manufacture here.

Premier Foods

Taking part in our webinar – Food Information to Consumers Regulation: what you need to know – will be representatives from Premier Foods, Campden BRI, Trading Standards and event sponsor food law firm DWF.

The line-up will be:

Alasdair Tucker, head of regulatory affairs at Premier Foods and chairman of the Food and Drink Federation’s Food Law & Labelling Committee, on how one of Britain’s largest food manufacturers is preparing for the changes enshrined in the Food Information Regulation.
Steve Spice, head of regulatory affairs at Campden BRI, on how food and drink businesses should be preparing to comply with the new leglislation.
Corinne Lowe, joint lead officer food and nutrition, Trading Standards Institute on the impact of the new rules and how they are likely to be policed.
Dominic Watkins, partner and head of food group DWF, on the legal framework surrounding the new legislation.

Reserve your free place at this one-hour webinar here. There is no limit on the number of registrations.

There will be an opportunity to put a question to our expert panel – either during the webinar, using your computer, or by emailing it in advance to Michael.stones@wrbm.com.