Food labelling changes

Food and drink manufacturers are making helpful changes to their labels in response to new European rules that come into effect on 13 December 2014.

Wide ranging changes to the layout and information included on labels will simplify and harmonise some of the information available on-pack and help consumers to make the most of the information available.

The top five changes to packaged food and drink labels to look out for are:

allergens will now be emphasised in the ingredients list; statements such as ‘Contains: milk, nuts’ are no longer permitted on-pack, although precautionary labelling such as ‘May contain: milk, nuts’ will still be used.

a minimum font size has been set for mandatory information to increase legibility

nutrition information is now a mandatory requirement and will usually be provided on the back of the pack. The nutrient content will always be shown per 100g. ‘Front of pack’ labelling remains voluntary and there are new requirements to increase consistency and aid usage.

The specific types of vegetable oils that are contained within a food or drink will now appear in the ingredients list.

The EU Food Information to Consumers (EU FIC) Regulation was published in the EU Official Journal in 2011; since then, food and drink producers have been updating labelling across their product ranges, working to the main implementation deadline of 13 December 2014. However, several transition periods still apply.

Barbara Gallani, director of regulation, science & health at the Food and Drink Federation, the voice of UK food and drink manufacturers, says: “Food and drink labelling helps make informed purchasing decisions by enabling individuals to check, compare and choose between similar products. Consumers have long had access to considerable product information on-pack, including nutrition information, which has been voluntarily provided by UK food and drink producers for nearly a decade.

“With its wide-ranging changes, the EU FIC has introduced the biggest change to on-pack labelling for the modern food industry and FDF members have been working to make sure that their product labels are compliant ahead of tomorrow’s deadline. To help shoppers make the most of these changes and use them with confidence, for its part the UK food industry has updated and relaunched its popular, consumer-friendly labelling website. This resource builds on FDF’s free food labelling toolkit for health professionals and the efforts of individual companies.”