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The UK considers new food labelling requirements

The UK government is carrying out a consultation on “fairer and clearer” food labelling designed to provide transparency to consumers and support farmers by recognising their products.

Launching the consultation process on 12 March 2024, Environment Secretary Steve Barclay wants to explore ideas on improving country of origin labelling and proposals to require ‘method of production’ labelling on certain products. The consultation, open until 7 May 2024, aims to support and recognise British farmers’ products and give shoppers more information about how and where their food is produced.

Beyond recently-announced measures

First announced at the Oxford Farming Conference in January 2024, the consultation comes after recently announced measures geared to support farmers and promote fairness in the supply chain.

Recent measures have included announcing new farming grants at the NFU conference in February 2024. Deemed the largest ever grant offer for farmers, they are expected to total £427 million and will include funding for technology and productivity schemes. There is also a proposal for new regulations to ensure fair and transparent contracts for dairy farmers.

Calls for clearer labelling

“Creating fairer labels that back British farmers is vital for the UK economy,” the UK government says. British farmers produce approximately 60% of the food consumers in the UK eat. The UK government adds that the nation’s agri-food and seafood sectors produce over £120 billion of value for the economy every year and employ more than four million people.

The current consultation aims to enhance the country of origin labelling for specific goods by evaluating the manner and location of displaying this information and determining the products to be included. Retailers are exploring whether this could be achieved by increasing the size of the country-of-origin text or placing it on the front of the packet.

For instance, if pork is imported and cured into bacon in the UK, and the packaging features a Union Jack, the consultation explores ways to make it more apparent to consumers that the pig was reared abroad.

Proposed by the UK’s environment secretary, the government is seeking opinions on different ways to update product labelling. The areas they are gathering insights on include mandatory origin labelling for minimally processed meat products such as bacon, increasing visibility of origin labelling, including mandatory origin labelling for certain foods in the out-of-home sector, and providing greater control of the use of national flags on labels.

Labels to indicate product origin

Current considerations also revolve around suggestions to include a requirement for ‘method of production’ labelling specifically for pork, chicken, and eggs. The plan is to implement a mandatory five-tier labelling system for domestic and imported products. They would relate to all unprocessed pork, chicken, and eggs and certain pre-packed and loose minimally processed products with pork, chicken, or egg.

“Food labels must be clear, simple and contain accurate information, including country of origin, to give shoppers easy access to the information they want and for those that want to, select products produced by British farmers and growers which they know are traceable, safe and produced to high animal welfare and environmental standards,” David Exwood, deputy president at NFU Mutual (National Farmers Union), a UK insurance composite, told Ingredients Network.

“Those eating out-of-home should also understand the provenance and standards with which their food is produced.”

The proposed ‘method of production’ labelling system will differentiate between products that fall below, meet and exceed relevant baseline UK animal welfare regulations.

Dairy, beef, and sheep meat labelling will be kept under review, subject to further consultation. In addition, the UK government is looking for general labelling insights regarding seafood.

Insufficient on its own?

“However, labelling on its own is not the answer to safeguarding our own high standards from imports that are produced under conditions that would be illegal in the UK,” Exwood says.

“That is why one of our asks in our election manifesto calls on the next government to enshrine a set of core environmental and animal welfare standards in law for all agri-food imports,” Exwood adds.

The NFU’s election manifesto, Farming for Britain’s Future, sets out the insurance group’s key points. It highlights how it aims to ensure the next government enables farmers and growers to continue delivering for the environment, economy and local communities while producing more food from the UK.

“The NFU will look closely at this consultation and seek the views of our members before responding,” Exwood says.