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EU Breakfast Directive: What food brands must do before June deadline

Honey origin labelling, higher fruit content for jams, and new categories for reduced-sugar juices: What must brands do to comply with the EU Breakfast Directive?

On 14 June 2026, the revised Breakfast Directive will apply, meaning food manufacturers across the EU have less than three months to prepare.

Ingredients Network spoke to Shannon Fahy, associate at Dublin-based law firm Browne Jacobson, about what the directive means in practice.

Honey origin labelling mandated

Of the four categories, Fahy identified honey as facing the most complex compliance challenges.

“This is because the Breakfast Directive amends labelling requirements in respect of honey products,” she explained.

The rules respond to a coordinated EU sampling campaign in 2023 that found nearly half (46%) of honey imported to the EU was suspected of being adulterated. This finding prompted regulatory action on origin transparency.

“If the honey consists of a mixture of honeys from different countries, all countries must be set out in the label in decreasing order based on their weight and the percentage of each origin. A tolerance of 5% is allowed for each individual share within the blend, but this is calculated on the basis of the operator’s traceability documentation,” Fahy said.

Packages containing less than 30 grams of honey are permitted to use two-letter ISO country codes, instead of full country names.

“This means that honey manufacturers will not only have to amend the labels of their honeys to include additional information but will also need to ensure their traceability documentation is maintained and their labels accurately reflect those records,” she explained.

Effectively, the requirement mandates per-batch traceability, which will require significant operational shifts for blenders who source honey from multiple origins.

“The upside for honey manufacturers is that honey products which are placed on the market or labelled before 14 June 2026 may continue to be marketed until the exhaustion of stocks,” she said, adding that

This allows manufacturers to continue selling old stock, while working on implementing labelling measures to comply with the Directive.

“The Breakfast Directive also authorises the European Commission to establish methods of analysis to verify whether honey is compliant with the Breakfast Directive, as well as to detect adulterated honey. Therefore, in due course, honey manufacturers may be placed under even more scrutiny,” Fahy added.

Fruit jams and juices: Reducing sugar and raising the fruit content

The Breakfast Directive also raises the minimum fruit content for standard jams from 350 grams/kilogram to 450g/kg of finished product. Extra jams and extra jellies, which refer to those made from unconcentrated fruit pulp, are required to increase from 450g/kg to 500g/kg.

This reformulation aims to reduce the amount of added sugar in these products, promoting healthier formulations and supporting fruit producers across the EU.

For fruit juices, the directive introduces three new reduced-sugar categories: reduced-sugar fruit juice, reduced-sugar fruit juice from concentrate, and concentrated reduced-sugar fruit juice.

All three categories must contain at least 30% less naturally occurring sugar than their standard equivalents, and sweeteners cannot be used to compensate for the reduction.

The directive also allows manufacturers to label standard fruit juices as containing “only naturally occurring sugars” to differentiate them from nectars with added sugars. However, labels on reduced-sugar products must not carry nutrition and/or health claims linked to the sugar reduction.

Juice made from concentrate must state this both clearly and visibly close to the product name.

Full compliance is required for products labelled after the deadline

For products labelled after the 14 June 2026 deadline, full compliance is expected.

Fahy explained that in Ireland, authorised officers appointed by the Food Safety Authority will have jurisdiction to seize, remove, or detain products deemed non-compliant.

She added that the Authority can also direct the non-compliant products to be withdrawn from the market and issue prohibition orders.