Food labelling: ingredient listing and allergens

This consultation has been prepared in accordance with the Better Regulation Executive's Code of Practice on Consultation, which states that a consultation must follow better regulation best practice, including carrying out an Impact Assessment (Regulatory Impact Assessment in Scotland). The assessment is included in the consultation documents.

We are interested in what you thought of this consultation and would therefore welcome your general feedback on both the consultation package and overall consultation process. If you would like to assist us to improve the quality of future consultations, please feel free to share your thoughts with us by using the Consultation Feedback Questionnaire.

Consultation Feedback Questionnaire (Word)

Consultation Feedback Questionnaire (pdf)

In accordance with the FSA principle of openness our Information Centre at Aviation House will hold a copy of the completed consultation. Responses will be open to public access upon request. The FSA will also publish a summary of responses, which may include personal data, such as your full name and contact address details. If you do not want this information to be released, please complete and return the Publication of Personal Data Form. Return of this form does not mean that we will treat your response to the consultation as confidential, just your personal data.

Publication of Personal Data Form (Word)

Publication of Personal Data Form (pdf)

In accordance with the provisions of freedom of information legislation, all information contained in your response may be subject to publication or disclosure. If you consider that some of the information provided in your response should not be disclosed, you should indicate the information concerned, request that it is not disclosed and explain what harm you consider would result from disclosure.

Any automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not be considered as such a request unless you specifically include a request, with an explanation, in the main text of your response.

The European Commission has published a proposal that would make some important changes to the rules on food labelling. The changes are aimed at ensuring all consumers are given comprehensive ingredient listing information, and that those with food allergies are able to identify ingredients they may need to avoid.

The changes that have been proposed would make it compulsory to list the following ingredients whenever they are used in foods, including alcoholic drinks:

- cereals containing gluten*
- crustaceans*
- eggs*
- fish*
- peanuts*
- soybeans*
- milk and dairy products (including lactose)
- nuts and nut products
- sesame seeds*
- sulphite at concentrations of at least 10mg/kg

*and products thereof

The proposal would also make it compulsory to list the components of compound ingredients that make up less than 25% of the final product (like the sausage topping on a pizza).

However, some new derogations (which would not be applicable to the allergens listed above) are being proposed. The Commission believes these are necessary to prevent the risk of labelling becoming too complex, and to take account of technical constraints associated with food manufacturing. Under these rules:

- compound ingredients making up less than 5% of the finished product would not have to list their ingredients, other than certain additives, if their composition is defined by EU laws (eg jam and chocolate);

- prepared sauces and mustards making up less than 5% of the finished product would also be exempt from the need to list their ingredients, other than certain additives;

- the herbs and spices in mixtures of herbs or spices that make up less than 2% of the finished product would not have to be listed;

- ingredients making up less than 5% of the finished product could be listed on the label after all the other ingredients in the ingredients list;

- where similar ingredients are likely to be substituted for other ingredients making up less 5% of the finished product, the ingredients list could refer to their possible presence using the terms "contains x and/or y" or "contains at least one of the following ingredients:?" (this would apply for up to a maximum of three ingredients);

- it would not be necessary to declare the presence of an ingredient in a compound ingredient if that ingredient is already mentioned elsewhere in the ingredients list on the label, provided a suitable declaration to that effect was made near the ingredients list.

For the full text of the Commission's proposal, follow the link in the See also panel on the right hand side of this page.

If you need any further information about the issues covered in this consultation, please contact
Rosemary Hignett at labelling@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk or call Keith Gregory on 020 7276 8168 or Matthew Carden on 020 7276 8172.

This consultation has been prepared in accordance with the Cabinet Office's Code of Practice on Written Consultation

Any comments you have could be sent to the FSA by no later than Friday 14 December. It would be particularly helpful if you could include the following in your response:

- consumer and public interest groups and individual consumers: your views on the proposed derogations; would they hide important information from consumers?

- enforcement authorities: an indication as to whether there would be additional enforcement costs if the proposal were adopted as written.

- industry: the practical significance of the proposed derogations; will they make a real difference to the length of ingredient lists or to the costs of implementation? If the costs of implementation of the proposal as a whole are of concern to you, please include estimates in your response.

A summary of responses recieved to this consultation will be published on this site.

In addition, all responses are normally made publicly available in full. If you would prefer your comments not to be made publicly available, please indicate this in your response, explaining your reasons.

Publication of responses in full may include personal data such as your contact details. Please say whether or not you agree to such personal data being published as part of the response by completing the data protection form (follow the link below) and attaching it with your response. If no objection is received, we will assume that you consent to full disclosure and may publish the details.

Within three months of a consultation ending we aim to publish a summary of responses received and provide a link to it from this page.

If, after three months, the summary is still not showing, please contact the person who was responsible for the original consultation. Alternatively, you can contact Chris Harvey, the FSA Consultation Co-ordinator, on 020 7276 8630.
Email: chris.harvey@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk