German confectionery body BDSI offers cautious welcome to EU wide labelling
Germany’s national confectionery body, the BDSI has welcomed the Federal Government continued support for Europe-wide introduction of visualised nutrition labelling, reports Neill Barston.
The organisation noted that while the Nutri-Score voluntary system is reportedly imminent within the country, it has raised concerns over issues surrounding the plans relating to its export market that had yet to be resolved in implementing the programme.
In a letter to Federal Food Minister Julia Klöckner, the BDSI has asked for the removal of numerous legal obstacles related to the national introduction of the scheme.
Bastian Fassin, chairman of the BDSI, said: “What we need is a practical and EU-wide uniform legal basis to avoid a patchwork of different national regulations. Because a fragmented EU internal market harms all companies in Europe, including the export-oriented German confectionery industry. ”
With regard to labelling of products for other European markets, while there has been a system of using uniform packaging, the BDSI noted that an increasing number of alternative labelling and packaging was now being required for different markets.
It noted that this also applies to the Nutri-Score, because different countries in the EU have not favoured it, and have used alternative platforms instead. Consequently, a patchwork of different national regulations have reportedly placed a particular burden on small and medium-sized companies in terms of additional costs and higher levels of administration.
The BDSI also noted that with Nutri-Score, there was one unilateral license agreement with the French authority Santé Publique France, which it said was an unacceptable situation, as this essentially allowed the body to see commercially sensitive recipes that were particularly valuable to those within the confectionery sector.
Despite such challenges, the BDSI noted that It is crucial that consumers can draw clear conclusions from what contribution that food performs in terms of energy and nutrient content, which such labelling systems provide.