New food and drink labels would be introduced across Europe as per the new European rules that will come into effect from 13 December 2014.
In response to the new rules, food and drink manufacturers are making wide-ranging changes to the layout and information contained within labels. This will help simplify and harmonise some of the information available on-pack and help consumers to make the most of the information available.
As per the new rules, there will be a special focus on allergens in the ingredients list and statements such as 'Contains: milk, nuts' would not be permitted on-pack, though precautionary labelling such as 'May contain: milk, nuts' will still be used. The only exception to this is for products that do not have an ingredients list, such as wine where 'Contains: sulphites' may be used.
A minimum font size has been set for mandatory information to increase legibility.
Nutrition information has to be included mandatorily on the 'back of pack', with the nutrient content to be always shown per 100g. 'Front of pack' labelling remains voluntary and there are new requirements to increase consistency and aid usage.
Ingredients list now will also contain specific types of vegetable oils that are contained within a food or drink.
From April 2015, labels also need to display the origin of unprocessed pig, sheep, goat and poultry meat on-pack following an extension of country of origin labelling.
Barbara Gallani, Director of Regulation, Science & Health at the Food and Drink Federation, the voice of UK food and drink manufacturers, said: "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 re-launched 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."
The EU Food Information to Consumers (EU FIC) Regulation was passed in 2011, with the main implementation deadline of 13 December.
Image: Nutrition information for food and drinks manufacturers. Photo courtsey of Freedigitalphotos.net.
