Defra has hailed a food labelling ruling by the EU as an unmitigated success for Britain. The department says that, following its lobbying, labelling will be clearer, simpler and more honest and hailed the outcome as increasing transparency, which would mean consumers are better informed. image expired

Farmers in the UK will welcome aspects of the vote, particularly the new rules on country of origin labelling for some animal products, which has long been campaigned for by industry groups. The EU also consented to consider increasing the range of products covered by country of origin labelling within three years. If it is rolled out further, labelling would include sausages and meat pies and potentially cheese.

Following today’s vote, the EU agreed to make it compulsory for manufacturers and retailers to clearly state:

• The country of origin of fresh and frozen meat;
• Whether any of the main ingredients in foods claiming British origin are actually imported;
• Anything above five per cent water content in cuts of meat such as bacon;
• Nutritional labelling on the back of packs;
• The types of vegetable oils used – such as palm oil;
• Information in an agreed minimum sized font;
• Allergen information for unpackaged food, including in restaurants; and
• High caffeine drinks will require additional labelling.

 The EU has also agreed:

• To make it easier for alcohol companies to voluntarily include calorie information;
• To set out voluntarily criteria for front of pack nutrition labelling on pre-packed food and drink; and
• To enable voluntary provision of calorie information in out of home settings.
• To allow Britain to keep its idiosyncratic measurements such as selling by the dozen and using imperial measurements, following plans to require metric weights on all products

The vote comes just weeks after Defra announced plans for clearer labelling on UK packaging, which it claimed would reduce waste and avoid confusing customers. The department has celebrated its double-victory, claiming the new rules will raise consumer awareness of nutrition and cut down consumer waste.

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said, "We’ve fought long and hard for more honest labelling so that consumers can make up their own minds about what they eat. Shoppers will now be absolutely sure that if meat claims to be British, it will be British – reared to the high standards they’d expect."