EU secures deal on food labeling
Source: Agencies |
June 16, 2011, Thursday
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EUROPEAN Union negotiators reached a deal yesterday on new food labeling rules, which aim to fight rising levels of obesity in Europe by helping consumers to make more informed purchasing decisions.
Under the agreement, all food products must carry labels showing their energy, salt, sugar, protein, carbohydrate, fat and saturated fat content, EU officials with knowledge of the long-anticipated deal said.
The nutritional labels will not have to go on the front of packages, but companies will have the option of repeating some of the information on the front if they choose.
All alcoholic beverages will be exempted from nutritional labeling, including alcopops, which EU governments had originally wanted to see labeled, one official said.
"Guideline daily amount" or GDA information on salt, fat, sugar and energy content will be voluntary under the agreement, rather than mandatory, as some EU lawmakers had wanted.
The deal was reached following talks between officials from the Hungarian EU presidency, the European Parliament and the European Commission.
It must now be formally approved by EU governments and the full parliament before becoming law.
The new rules would require compulsory country-of-origin labeling for pork, poultry, lamb and goat meat within two years of entering force.
Mandatory origin labeling for beef and veal was introduced in the EU in 2000, shortly before the start of Europe's second BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) crisis.
Before the new labels are introduced, the commission must specify how it intends to deal with animals that are born, raised or slaughtered in more than one country, an official said.
The commission must also say by 2013 whether origin labels should be extended to include processed meat products.
A year later it must make a decision on whether to widen the scope further to include milk products.
Under the deal, individual EU countries will be allowed to introduce labeling systems that go beyond the new EU rules, provided they are science-based and voluntary. This could allow Britain and others to keep their traffic-light systems.
Traffic-light labels, which rank the fat, sugar and salt content of food as either high (red), medium (yellow) or low (green), are used by British-based retailers including J Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer.
Others, including Tesco, have resisted the traffic-light labeling scheme.
Under the agreement, all food products must carry labels showing their energy, salt, sugar, protein, carbohydrate, fat and saturated fat content, EU officials with knowledge of the long-anticipated deal said.
The nutritional labels will not have to go on the front of packages, but companies will have the option of repeating some of the information on the front if they choose.
All alcoholic beverages will be exempted from nutritional labeling, including alcopops, which EU governments had originally wanted to see labeled, one official said.
"Guideline daily amount" or GDA information on salt, fat, sugar and energy content will be voluntary under the agreement, rather than mandatory, as some EU lawmakers had wanted.
The deal was reached following talks between officials from the Hungarian EU presidency, the European Parliament and the European Commission.
It must now be formally approved by EU governments and the full parliament before becoming law.
The new rules would require compulsory country-of-origin labeling for pork, poultry, lamb and goat meat within two years of entering force.
Mandatory origin labeling for beef and veal was introduced in the EU in 2000, shortly before the start of Europe's second BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) crisis.
Before the new labels are introduced, the commission must specify how it intends to deal with animals that are born, raised or slaughtered in more than one country, an official said.
The commission must also say by 2013 whether origin labels should be extended to include processed meat products.
A year later it must make a decision on whether to widen the scope further to include milk products.
Under the deal, individual EU countries will be allowed to introduce labeling systems that go beyond the new EU rules, provided they are science-based and voluntary. This could allow Britain and others to keep their traffic-light systems.
Traffic-light labels, which rank the fat, sugar and salt content of food as either high (red), medium (yellow) or low (green), are used by British-based retailers including J Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer.
Others, including Tesco, have resisted the traffic-light labeling scheme.
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