Revision of Food Standards Agency food labelling guidance on country of origin

The objectives of the guidance are as follows:

• to improve labelling practice with respect to origin labelling and compliance with country of origin and misleading labelling legislation, in the manufacturing, retail and the catering sectors
• to improve consumer confidence in such labelling
• to provide enforcement authorities with guidance to help them improve labelling advice

The proposals are to revise the guidance to include:

1. reformatting of the document to enable better accessibility for small and medium enterprises
2. updating of relevant legal information, including Article 16, of Regulation EC 178/2002 and commodities legislation
3. advice on avoiding misleading labelling with regard to products that are of a particular culinary style
4. advice on avoiding misleading labelling for origin declarations for products from Northern Ireland
5. best practice advice on providing voluntary additional information in the form of a 'Produced in Y' statement, if in fact the product is labelled as 'Packed in X', to avoid “'Packed in X' implying origin. This would clearly show that it is produced in a different country to that in which it is packed. If the product is produced in the same country as it is packed the 'Packed in X' indication would not be misleading when used alone
6. best practice advice on avoiding misleading presentation and display of products in store

These changes to the guidance would provide updated advice on compliance with legislation (3 and 4) and improve best practice advice (5 and 6) for industry that should result in more informative labelling that is helpful to consumers.

This consultation has been prepared in accordance with the Better Regulation Executive's Code of Practice on Consultation, which states that a consultation must follow better regulation best practice, including carrying out an Impact Assessment (Regulatory Impact Assessment in Scotland). The assessment is included in the consultation documents.

We are interested in what you thought of this consultation and would therefore welcome your general feedback on both the consultation package and overall consultation process. If you would like to assist us to improve the quality of future consultations, please feel free to share your thoughts with us by using the Consultation Feedback Questionnaire.

Consultation Feedback Questionnaire (Word)

Consultation Feedback Questionnaire (pdf)

In accordance with the FSA principle of openness our Information Centre at Aviation House will hold a copy of the completed consultation. Responses will be open to public access upon request. The FSA will also publish a summary of responses, which may include personal data, such as your full name and contact address details. If you do not want this information to be released, please complete and return the Publication of Personal Data Form. Return of this form does not mean that we will treat your response to the consultation as confidential, just your personal data.

Publication of Personal Data Form (Word)

Publication of Personal Data Form (pdf)

In accordance with the provisions of freedom of information legislation, all information contained in your response may be subject to publication or disclosure. If you consider that some of the information provided in your response should not be disclosed, you should indicate the information concerned, request that it is not disclosed and explain what harm you consider would result from disclosure.

Any automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not be considered as such a request unless you specifically include a request, with an explanation, in the main text of your response.

Within three months of a consultation ending we aim to publish a summary of responses received and provide a link to it from this page.

If, after three months, the summary is still not showing, please contact the person who was responsible for the original consultation. Alternatively, you can contact Chris Harvey, the FSA Consultation Co-ordinator, on 020 7276 8630.
Email: chris.harvey@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk