If national food labelling is complex, international regulation is an order of magnitude more difficult. The UK and the Netherlands held a conference in February to discuss uniform food labelling across Europe. Sabine Nafziger, Barbara Gallani and Chris Dabner lay out their concerns.

We need information for the majority

Minorities can consult websites, says Sabine Nafziger

When it comes to food labelling, the principles guiding the manufacturer are what must appear legally on the label; what information consumers really need/want/use; how consumers’ needs can best be satisfied; and how we can communicate all the information clearly, ensuring that messages are understood and used.
Fulfilling all consumer needs and legal requirements for information on food labels often results in crowded labels. Quantity usually conflicts with the visibility of information.
Consumers are entitled to expect clear information, which is easy to find, read and understand. We can make information clearer only by limiting legal requirements to information essential to consumers, enabling them to identify the product, to use it safely and to make an informed choice about its content.

Minority interests

Information for special consumer groups, representing minority interests, should be given by other means. These consumers should be able to obtain targeted information by establishing a dialogue with the producer. This is increasingly possible via web-sites. Other media, such as leaflets/ brochures, free phonelines and in store-barcode-readers can also benefit consumer target groups. Alternatives to web-sites are free phonelines or ‘carelines’.
Increasing clarity and legibility of labels by concentrating on the essential information is only the first step. This has to be supported and accompanied by measures aimed at increasing consumers’ understanding. We need to motivate consumers to read labels in order to make an informed choice. The necessary consumer education cannot be delivered through labels themselves.

Law needs simplifying

The quantity and complexity of food labelling legislation also presents difficulties for the industry, which has to comply with it.  We need simplification, which means making the legislation more user-friendly for manufacturers by requiring less information and collating requirements in one piece of legislation.  This should go in parallel with making sure that Member States cannot interpret the legislation differently.

The legislator should also take into account the problem of space for multilingual labels and small packages. The statutory information has to fit on packs of all shapes and sizes, which is another argument for concentrating on essential information, which is intended for the majority of consumers. The harmonisation of those essentials, in clear and enforceable legislation, is of course necessary for intra-community trade.

Sabine Nafziger is Senior Manager of Regulatory Affairs at the Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the EU

s.nafziger@ciaa.be