More information for the consumer – more effort for the industry: International Fresenius Conference "The New Food Information Regulation"

Industry meeting in Cologne (Germany) from 20 to 21 March 2012 throws light on new labeling standards for food packaging

Dortmund, Köln, March 30, 2012

With the new Food Information Regulation (FIR), the EU creates more safety for the consumer: from the end of 2014 food packages have to contain more comprehensive information on the packaged goods than before. For the industry this means a fundamental reorientation. Existing data has to be reviewed and brought up to date, some information even have to be investigated for the first time, to meet the requirements of the European Union. At the International Fresenius-Conference "The New Food Information Regulation" from 20 to 21 March 2012 in Cologne (Germany) industry experts discussed all the important alterations in the field.

Future product information would not only have to be more extensive, but also needs to be easy to understand and read for the consumer, Gilles Boin (Hogan Lovells, France) made clear. One of the most important changes is that there will be a minimum font size for the printing of food information on packaging material which would also result in consequently minimized space on the label available for marketing purposes. In general, the regulation would foresee a greater variety of mandatory information, Boin explained further. In addition to nutritional information, the freezing and/or use-by-date, specific information such as used substitutes or contained nanomaterials would be compulsory from now on. But despite big progress in many areas, the new regulation would still leave some important questions open including the use of pictograms on the packaging, nutritional information on alcoholic beverages or the labeling of trans fats, de Boin stressed.

Origin information: consumer’s expectations decisive

A highly relevant provision of the new regulation is the identification of the goods’ origin country or origin region. The origin has to be indicated explicitly if there was a likelihood that consumers could draw false conclusions from the product name or product type due to missing information, Martin Holle (Unilever, UK) explained. According to the regulation, "origin" refers to geographical regions, in which key parts of the product’s processing take place and which contribute to the characteristics of the good. This would not just apply to the location of production, but also to the origin of the raw material, Holle made clear. The labeling would therefore crucially depend on the consumer’s expectations. If the place of production and the origin of the raw material would be not identical, both the origin of the primary ingredient as well as the origin of the final product would have to be labeled, Holle closed.

New allergen labeling

The new requirements for labeling of allergens is also among the regulation’s innovations. For the first time regulation acknowledges the risk of cross contamination. Therefore, Stephen Pugh (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, DEFRA, UK) explained the new requirements for labeling of allergenic ingredients. The new regulation would only cover intentionally added substances – in contrast, any residues would not fall under the regulation. The risk of cross contamination could be determined by risk assessment, the expert said. Therefore health warnings on food packages would only be necessary if there was a detectable and significant risk to consumers, Pugh pointed out. Provided that this would be the case, an easy visible and legible warning would need to be placed on the packaging. Beyond that, the industry would be bounded to use short, factual statements to inform the consumer about potential risks, Pugh concluded.

The complete Fresenius conference documentation including scripts from all the presentations can be purchased at the Akademie Fresenius for 295,00 € (plus VAT) or here.

Contact details:

Die Akademie Fresenius GmbH
Monika Stratmann

Alter Hellweg 46
44379 Dortmund
Germany

Phone +49 231 75896-48
Fax +49 231 75896-53
E-Mail mstratmann@akademie-fresenius.de
Internet www.akademie-fresenius.com

More information for the consumer – more effort for the industry: International Fresenius Conference "The New Food Information Regulation"

Industry meeting in Cologne (Germany) from 20 to 21 March 2012 throws light on new labeling standards for food packaging

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