Simon Gawler, head of the food and drink team at legal firm Stephens Scown LLP in Exeter believes that although it will be clearer for consumers, it may be expensive to implement. Some estimates place the potential cost of changes to packaging to as much as £7,000 per product.
The European Council is expected to adopt the new rules this month. The rules will then be published in the Official Journal, when they will come into force, which is expected to take place in November.
Simon said: “Bringing in the rules over the next few years will certainly help local producers to get used to the changes and there is still a lot of time, but it’s fair to say that for some businesses in the South West, it may be a big outlay in terms of increased packaging costs - some of which may well be passed onto the shopper, even though it should ultimately help them to make more informed choices in the long run.”
The new rules will mean that labels on packaged food will have to detail energy content, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugar, protein and salt in tabular form and expressed per 100g or 100ml. Producers will also need to use a minimum font size on labels.
Information about foodstuffs that cause allergies or intolerances must be given for non-packaged foods, in restaurants and other catering establishments and on packaged foods. Allergens will need to be highlighted in the ingredients list on packaged foods. Engineered nanomaterials will also need to be listed in the ingredients. Country-of-origin labelling has become compulsory for fresh meat from pigs, sheep, goats and poultry.
All the rules will apply to distance selling too – information must be available to the buyer before they purchase the product either via a website or a catalogue or some other method.
Simon added: “Our food and drink industry in the Westcountry has been leading the way for some time, so I don’t think that producers will have to make huge changes to their labelling. The main aim of the new rules is to make sure consumers are not misled when it comes to buying a product. It’s also to modernise and make labels much clearer and more consistent.”
Stephens Scown, which has offices in Exeter, Truro and St Austell, has a dedicated team of lawyers to provide specialist legal advice to the region’s food and drink industry on a range of business and personal matters.
Simon said: “Although food businesses in the South West will have three years from the date the new rules come into force to adapt to the new EU rules and another two years to apply the rules on nutritional declaration, they should start to take steps now to get themselves ready.”
Separate to this EU legislation, from 1 October new legislation came into effect relating to the sale of fixed sizes of unwrapped bread by bakers and retailers and non pre-packed alcohol in the UK from licensed premises. Specified quantities were originally introduced in the 1960s.
Under the new regulations* unwrapped loaves of bread can be sold in any size by bakers and retailers, in addition to traditional sizes provided that the new size is set out on a ticket or notice.
There are also changes for licensed premises. Draft beers and ciders are able to be sold in a new specified quantity of 2/3 pint, as well as the current 1/3 pint and ½ pint and multiples of ½ pint. The existing specified quantities for fortified wines will be reduced to 50ml or 70ml so that the law matches existing practice. Wine will be able to be sold in smaller quantities (although there is no requirement to sell a quantity which is less than 75ml) provided that one of the capacity measures is used such as 20ml, 35ml, 50ml etc. Gin, rum, vodka, whisky and brandy will still be required to be sold in specified quantities of 25ml or 35ml or multiples of these amounts.
For more information or advice on the EU rule changes on product labelling or the new legislation relating weights and measures to bread and wine, contact Simon Gawler or Catherine Doggett on 01392 210700 or visit www.stephens-scown.co.uk
Ends
Download full press release