By Gary Hartley GS1 New Zealand
Basic fact – people want good information about the food they buy and eat. Second basic fact – food producers and retailers must provide such information in response to market forces and regulatory obligations.
These are established facts of life for food and grocery companies in any developed economy. And actually, life is about to get much tougher for those who provide food and food retailing services in Europe. A new European Union food information regulation (referred to simply as ‘the FIR’) will substantially raise the bar for what constitutes ‘good’ information and for how it is provided to consumers. Regulation 1169/2011 will apply to European companies from December 2014 – and perhaps to New Zealand companies with supply chains that end in European supermarkets!
The FIR, the first major update of EU regulations in this area since 1979, is worth a close look wherever you are in the world. At the least, it points the way for possible future regulation on food information in countries such as New Zealand.
In its own words the FIR applies to all food information “made available to the final consumer by means of a label, other accompanying material, or any other means including modern technology tools or verbal communication”. It substantially extends the list of particulars about food that are mandatory for inclusion on labels, websites and so on.
For starters, country-of-origin disclosure requirements are extended to sheep and pig meats (being already mandatory for beef, fish, honey, olive oil and fresh fruit and vegetables). Food product ingredients must be listed in more detail. This will include showing “energy value”, amounts of fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt. The word “sodium” has been replaced by “salt” for consumer clarity. All parts of the mandatory nutrition declaration should be in the same field of vision on the packaging. The label must mention if food has aspartame/aspartame-acesulfame salt. Beverages with high caffeine content must also be marked.
All pre-packaged food products must indicate on the label if they contain specific ingredients which are identified as causing allergenic reactions in certain people or to which individuals can be intolerant to. The FIR extends this requirement also to foods sold loose in restaurants, take-away outlets, canteens and over deli counters. The date of minimum durability of a food has also been introduced, and means “the date until which the food retains its specific properties when properly stored”. In the case of foods which are highly perishable, the date of minimum durability must be replaced by a clear “use-by” date.
In short, Europe is moving to higher standards for disclosure about food contents and origin. The FIR makes it clear also that this information must be available before purchase decisions are made – and that includes remote purchase decisions. In fact, one of the key drivers has been the explosion of “distance selling” to European customers, mainly through the Internet. It seems clear that where food products are being offered for sale online, all the information that must be disclosed about it will also have to be immediately-accessible online.
In Europe, the GS1 organisation commissioned independent analysis on the implications of the FIR. The conclusions are far reaching. Food brand owners will have to make all the necessary information available to food retailers in a website-friendly form and for this, the two parties will need robust systems for co-operation whenever new products are being introduced or existing products are being modified. Of course, products and ranges of products are changing all the time.
Globally, GS1 is in the business of helping brand owners, retailers and others share digital information on products using standardised identifiers and data formats. As Europe and its suppliers, near and far, prepare for the FIR from December 2014, there will be a lot of work going on to ensure that data synchronisation and other systems are properly in place to meet the new requirements.
Basic facts do not change, but we do business, shop and eat in a fast changing world.
