It is now compulsory to provide nutritional information such as energy, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugar, protein and sodium per 100g/ml on the back of food packaging. Unfortunately, the demand to place these details on the front did not gain enough support. It is also a shame that there is no intention to provide information on the ominous trans fats. Details on certain substances, which might lead to allergic reactions or incompatibilities, must be provided both for packaged as well as non-packaged food items – information must be provided even if one is eating out. Apart from the origin of beef, which must already be specified due to another regulation, in future it will also be mandatory to identify the origin of pork, lamb and goat meat as well as of poultry. What this indication of origin will look like in detail, for example whether “EU” will be sufficient as information on origin or whether the Member State, resp. a region or a location have to be specified, must first be devised within the scope of an implementing rule. All details specified on food packaging must be easily readable promises the Commission. However, relevant regulations must be prepared first.

Imitation cheese (analogue cheese) has to be labelled as such. It must also be specified whether a package contains formed meat resp. fish (meat or fish products which are made up of several cuts of meat or fish). Information on whether an ingredient, which a consumer could normally expect in a food product, has been replaced by another substance, must in future also be clearly shown. Unfortunately, the calls for a traffic light labelling system, which for example displays the quantity of sodium, sugar and fat according to their content in red, green or yellow, have been ignored.

The European Parliament has adopted these new regulations this week; the Council will follow suit after the summer break. The labelling requirements will probably have to be applied from 2014, the nutritional value declarations only from 2016.