Food allergens and the new EU law on food information to consumers

26 Jan 2015

The Food Information for Consumers Regulation (1169/2011/EC) came into force across the EU on 13 December 2014, with the obligation to provide nutrition information coming into force from 13 December 2016. The new regulation on the provision of food information to consumers combines two previous Directives – 2000/13/EC: labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs; and 90/496/EEC: nutrition labelling for foodstuffs – into one legislation. This has had far-reaching implications across the food industry for the provision of allergen information. For pre-packaged foods it meant a change in the way the allergens are displayed on the pack, and a change to the way consumers' attention is drawn to them. This includes highlighting allergens e.g. peanuts or milk in the list of ingredients; mandatory nutrition information on processed foods; mandatory origin labelling of unprocessed meat from pigs, sheep, goats and poultry; and better legibility i.e. minimum size of text. For those supplying foods sold not pre-packed and all other areas of the industry, e.g. restaurants and cafés, it has meant a huge change in the level of information that they must be able to provide on the allergens used in their products.

Two months on from the introduction of the changes to the regulation, are there still areas that the industry needs clarifying and what has the impact been? What lessons have been learnt in preparing for the change?

The evening event 'Food Allergens Post Implementation of Food Information Regulations' will be taking place on 24 February at SCI, London. Organized by SCI's Food Group, the meeting has been arranged to give food industry professionals an opportunity to hear an overview of the changes from an industry expert, Simon Flanagan, Senior Consultant, Food Safety, from RSSL. Simon has extensive experience working with different sectors within the food industry and assisting them in understanding the practical implications of the changes for their businesses.

We hope that the event will give food industry professionals an opportunity to ask our experts any burning questions they may have on the regulations. We also hope attendees will appreciate the opportunity to network and share their experiences with each other.

To view the programme for the evening and book your place at the event, please click on the link below.

Related Links

Show me news from
All themes
from
All categories
by
All years
search by