Food Labelling Forum Summary Report - 24 November 2000

Grant Meekings Head of Division, Food Labelling Standards and Consumer Protection Food Standards Agency Apologies from David Statham (Head of Enforcement and Food Standards Group) who had intended to Chair this meeting but was unable to attend. The Food Labelling Forum grew out of the Better Food Labelling Initiative. This initiative had been set up to find out what mattered most to people in terms of the labelling that they need to make informed choices about the food that they buy. We wanted to use these Open Forums as an opportunity to describe, and provide updates on, the progress of the Food Labelling Action Plan, which the Food Standards Agency Board agreed at its September meeting. The Forum would also be an opportunity to stand back and allow all parties to view the existing Food Labelling rules from a wider perspective and raise directly with us any labelling issues of particular concern. We also wanted the Forum to become a sounding board for ideas and give interested parties access to the agency in the very early stages of policy making.

The Food Labelling Action Plan Rosemary Hignett Food Labelling Standards and Consumer protection Division Food Standards Agency The Food Labelling Action plan, agreed by the Agency's Board at its September meeting, has been developed to reflect the key areas which consumers have indicated are of concern. There are three categories of action which the Agency will be pursuing over the coming months:

• Changes to EU rules.
• Voluntary Initiatives.
• Advice and Education.

The Agency is committed to involving individuals and organisations in consultation in all these areas to ensure that the consumer is best served by the process.

Changes to EU Rules The Agency has already entered into dialogue with the European Commission, via Commissioner Byrne, on the changes that are needed to EU labelling rules to address the issues that consumers have identified as being of most concern. The Commission has now agreed in principle to consider these, and we are confident that progress can now be made in a number of areas. We will be particularly asking the Commission to look at:

• Tackling ingredient listing through the removal of exemptions from EU law, in particular those relating to allergens, alcoholic drinks and the ingredients of compound ingredients (also known as the 25% rule).
• Country of origin labelling, which we want to be made compulsory for a wider range of foods. We are also looking for tighter rules on the use of terms such as "produce of" on foods that have been processed.
• Improving nutrition labelling to help people eat more healthily.
• Developing clear rules on "GM free" labelling.

Voluntary Initiatives The Agency recognises that changing rules can take some time and that the outcome can be uncertain. Voluntary initiatives can, therefore, provide a more flexible and adaptable approach to problem solving. This approach does not rule out legislative change in the future, and it can be used to inform development of legislative solutions should they become necessary. The Agency's plans include:

• Setting up a Task Force on label clarity. Charles McDonald (Member of the Food Advisory Committee and City Analyst with Glasgow City Council) has agreed to chair it. It will be charged with reviewing the ease with which consumers are currently able to obtain information of concern to them from food labels, identifying particular sources of difficulty, and making practical recommendations for improvement.
• Considering how best to respond to increasing consumer concerns about mixed messages and lack of balance in promotion of foods to children. We have met representatives of public interest groups, nutrition experts, enforcement authorities and regulators to help define the nature and extent of the problem. In December we will meet industry representatives to look at options for addressing these concerns.
• Producing guidance on the use of marketing terms. The Food Advisory Committee is already drawing up draft guidance on best practice in the use of potentially misleading terms like "fresh", "traditional" etc. We hope to consult on proposals for clear, transparent criteria for the use of these terms in the first half of 2001.
• Providing guidance to industry and consumers on the use of "may contain" labelling in relation to allergens, including the use of HACCP* and why the use of these declarations are sometimes necessary.
• Development of a code of practice on the use of voluntary labelling (a "code of codes") to help ensure that the design and use of voluntary labelling schemes follow certain key principles to reduce the chances for consumers to be confused or mislead.
• Improving information available at catering establishments, and for loose foods, paying particular attention to the needs of those with food allergies.
• Increasing the amount of information available to consumers "off-label" through the use of e-commerce and customer helplines. The agency will also be considering the impact of the use of this technology on levels of consumer protection.
• Assessing the enforcement of GM rules including evaluating detection schemes, which is already underway.

Advice and Education Research has revealed considerable consumer interest in having improved advice on how to use labels. Improving label layout and content will help, but the Agency is now considering how it can best contribute to developing clear, independent advice that is easily available. This will include looking at improving education on how to use food labels in schools. Initially the Agency will be looking at what is possible within current constraints in primary and secondary curricula but the Agency is also interested in pushing for an increase in the emphasis on food skills in the National Curriculum.

EU Update Rosemary Hignett Food Labelling Standards and Consumer protection Division Food Standards Agency The purpose of this presentation was to provide feedback on the progress made under various initiatives that have already been raised at European level. It is worth noting that the EU is fairly enthusiastic about some of the changes that have been proposed to existing rules and that a great deal of interest has also been shown in the non-statutory initiatives that the Agency is pursuing. The initiatives that are currently being considered at European level include:

• Clarifying the application of rules on Quantitative Ingredient Declarations (QUID) to meat products, like ham and bacon, that contain added water, and defining "meat" for the purposes of labelling.
• Changing labelling rules to provide better information about the presence of allergens (as set out in the presentation on the Food labelling Action Plan). The EU will also be discussing the adoption of the list of recognised major allergens for the purpose of food labelling already discussed by the Codex Committee on Food Labelling.
• Amending the Nutrition Labelling Directive (draft proposal expected from the Commission in early 2001) to provide clearer and more easily understood information to help consumers to eat healthily.
• Introducing statutory criteria for nutrition claims.
• New legislation on health claims, although this may be restricted to nutrient function and enhanced function claims.

Slides from both presentations can be found at Annex B.

Chaired by Grant Meekings Food Labelling Standards and Consumer Protection Division Food Standards Agency Questions were taken from the floor on issues that people felt were relevant and of concern. The following summary describes the issues raised and the views outlined reflect those held by the individuals who spoke and were not representative of the whole meeting.

Full Ingredient Listing Fully comprehensive ingredient listing is still a major concern for many. The need to be able to identify all ingredients used in the production of a food or drink is seen by some as essential to enable consumers to identify ingredients that they either need or want to avoid. This was emphasised by both vegetarians and allergy sufferers who need to avoid certain ingredients for medical or ethical reasons. Several attendees also raised the problems associated with the use of "may contain" warnings in relation to allergen labelling. Listing of GM ingredients was still a concern for some although manufacturers also warned against setting thresholds for declaration that cannot be met by current detection methods.

Origin Labelling The importance of clear country of origin labelling was highlighted by participants for reasons of extending consumer choice and concerns over quality and production methods. Voluntary assurance schemes were suggested as offering one way to provide an indication of country of origin without the need for changes in legislation. However, because such schemes are aimed essentially at assuring quality rather than origin, they could not be used as a guarantee of the origin of every product on which they had been used. The need for clearer definitions on terms such as 'produced in...' was also raised on the grounds that current usage did not actually give the consumer the information they required.

Nutrition Labelling and Claims There was a call for more flexibility to be allowed in giving nutrition labelling on foods, especially low calorie foods where the current rules often require information to be given about nutrients which are not present, or only present at trace amounts. Flexibility was also seen as an issue in the discussion of EU legislation on food fortification and food supplements. There were concerns that legislation setting a blanket level for fortification across the EU could not take into account differing eating habits, nutrient intakes and requirements, consequently consumers could be misled about the relevance of specific fortified foods to their particular needs. It was suggested that '% fat free' claims should also be prohibited as being fundamentally misleading to the consumer. The Association of Public Analysts list of recommendations on the use of marketing terms and phrases and the Institute of Grocery Distribution's (IGD) recommendations on labelling design were offered as a basis for further research in this area.

Label Clarity The move to create a task force dealing with label clarity was widely welcomed, as was the setting up of a regular food labelling forum. There was a general feeling that we needed to go back to basics when looking at food labelling and consider what was actually needed on labels before considering all of the additional information that was sought by certain groups of consumers. There was also wide agreement about the need for better consumer education in how to use the information that is presented on food labels to complement the findings of this task force. Concern was raised, however, about the number of industry based initiatives in this area and the potential for the duplication of effort. The need for the Agency to work with industry and other organisations on these initiatives, to avoid such duplication, was stressed.

Code of Practice on the Advertising of Food to Children Concerns were raised as to the basis for the development of such a code and its objectives. A request was made for the publication of the consumer research that had led to this initiative. It was explained that this initiative stemmed from numerous representations from public interest groups and individuals, and not from the Agency's consumer research, all of which is already in the public domain. The Agency's Board had identified this issue as a priority. Grant Meekings stressed that work on this issue was at a very early stage of development and that interested parties would be fully consulted and given every opportunity to become involved in the decision making process.

Regulatory Burdens There was general concern about the need to make Regulations clearer and easier to understand. Fuller and clearer rules would be welcomed but there was also the need to ensure that the concerns of small businesses are taken into account, particularly the difficulties they face regarding the provision of information and the associated cost factors. Regard needed to be given to the cost burden on small businesses when deciding whether to bring in voluntary or mandatory measures. The cost of access to the information required by, and the implementation of, new rules could be a significant disincentive.

Close Grant Meekings thanked everyone who had attended this first Food Labelling Forum, mentioning that another would be held in roughly six months time to review progress. It is hoped that the next meeting will be advertised on the Agency's website and would again be open to all.