“All they need to do is put new
packaging on imported meat and
they can say it’s Irish”
“Without prejudice to more specific
provisions of food law, the labelling, advertising
and presentation of food or feed … shall not
mislead consumers.”
To ensure that information on packaging is accurate, not misleading and safe, food labelling rules are set out in Irish and EU law. These are mandatory information requirements and must be on the label. Other information which is not required by law is added by the manufacturer or retailer voluntarily.
We asked the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) to clarify a few things for us:
1 Who regulates food labelling in Ireland?
The FSAI is responsible for the enforcement of all pieces of food legislation in Ireland.
This enforcement function is carried out through service contracts with agencies including the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Health Service Executive (HSE), Local Authority Veterinary Service (LA) and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA).
How is this policed?
Inspectors from each of these agencies enforce the food labelling rules and provide advice to the food industry. The FSAI co-ordinates this enforcement and also deals directly with regulatory issues and complaints raised by consumers.
Misleading labels
(eg the farm name on a product when no such farm exists)
The FSAI acknowledges that information on a food label can at times be confusing or ambiguous and are therefore complaints are dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
2 How many complaints are made each year?
In 2019, 152 complaints were made to the FSAI about labelling (out of a total of 3,359 complaints). The complaints concerned incorrect labelling of allergens, complaints about country of origin labelling on foods, organic foods and labelling not being declared in English.
The FSAI also deals with many queries from the food industry about labelling. Country of origin labelling, allergen labelling, nutrition declaration and nutrition and health claims on foods were the most requested topics.
Nutrition and health claims
Legislation sets down specific labelling requirements for nutrition and health claims. There is a list and if the claim is not on this list, it is not permitted to be declared on a label. “Nutrition claim” means any claim which states, suggests or implies that a food has particular beneficial nutritional properties due to the energy and nutrients it provides.
These permitted nutrition claims will manifest most commonly on packaging as claims such as “low”, “reduced”, “free”, “no added”, “high in”, “source of”, “increased”, “light”, and “natural”.
And there is pretty strict criteria to be met before a company can use such claims on pack. Here are two examples:
‘Fat-free’
A claim that a food is fat-free, and any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer, may only be made where the product contains no more than 0.5g of fat per 100g or 100ml.
Claims expressed as “X% fat-free” are prohibited.
‘Natural’
Most would take “natural” to mean the product comes from nature and according to the regulations, it actually does have to. This can include:
Single-ingredient foods which are minimally processed (think chopping and peeling) but not when all other similar foods are natural. It has to have “special / different characteristics”. Foods with more than one ingredient (compound) cannot be called “natural”. However, if the product meets certain criteria, it can be marketed as “made with natural ingredients” like a cooked ham produced without the preservative nitrite. There is a special dispensation where a product is synonymous with the word “natural”.
For example dairy products such as “natural yoghurt” are manufactured from milk, only using starter cultures necessary for fermentation and are free from other ingredients
The onus is on the food business to ensure that the nutrition or health claim that they intend to use is permitted. It is a complicated business though and does beg the question; is self-regulation better than no regulation?
In part two of this series, we will talk “artisan”, “farmhouse” and “traditional”.
What has to be on the pack for nutrition and food safety?
There is a list of mandatory labelling information that is required on the labels of pre-packed foods. In general the following information must be declared on a food label:
Name – what the food is. Ingredients – a list in descending order of weight of everything that went into making the food.Allergens – any allergenic ingredient (there is a specific list) must be highlighted in the list of ingredients to distinguish these from all other ingredients.QUID (quantitative ingredient declaration) – It is sometimes necessary to state on the label the quantity, in percentage terms, of an ingredient or category of ingredients used in the manufacture or preparation of a foodstuff eg, the ham and mushroom need to be quantified in a “ham and mushroom” pizza. Net quantity – how much is in the food.Date marking – a “use-by” or “best before” date (see over).Any special storage conditions and/or conditions of use – how to maintain the safety and quality of the food.Name and address of food business – so the consumer knows who to contact about the food.Country of origin – only where its absence might mislead the consumer (see over).Instructions for use – where it would be difficult for consumers to make appropriate use of the food without such instructions.Nutrition declaration – see over.Nutrition information (energy, protein, fat etc) is displayed per 100g on the back of packs and sometimes per recommended serving. Safefood recommend using the per 100g column to compare products, but also to look at the recommended portion size as this may be more or less than what you actually eat.
What are traffic lights and are they required?
You will see a traffic lights system on packs (green, amber, red) which are 
a voluntary declaration but they do fall under Regulation 1169/2011. Although developed in the UK, as we import a large amount of product from the UK, they appear on many food labels. The UK developed a guidance on this, which as you can imagine is:
Green – best choice.Amber – OK most of the time. Red – only choose occasionally What is substantial transformation?
This goes to the heart of our original question. The concern that products can be imported, a bit of value added and the product is suddenly Irish.
The EU has specific legislation for customs codes and origin and the determination of originating status is as follows:
Goods wholly obtained in a single country or territory are regarded as having their origin in that country or territory.Goods the production of which involves more than one country or territory are deemed to originate in the country or territory where they underwent their last, substantial, economically-justified processing or working, in an undertaking equipped for that purpose, resulting in the manufacture of a new product or representing an important stage of manufacture.In general, “last substantial transformation” is determined in three ways:
By change of tariff heading. By undergoing a manufacturing or processing operation listed in the customs rules that confers on the goods the origin of the country in which these operations were carried out. A value-added rule, where the increase of value due to assembly operations and incorporation of originating materials represents a specified level of the ex-works price of the product. Similar to when talking about “natural” and minimum processing, actions which are not considered as substantial include: preservation, sorting, washing, cutting up, changes of packing, assembly, sale, adding marks or labels to packaging or assembly/disassembly.
When is country of origin labelling compulsory?
Under general food labelling rules, the country of origin or place of provenance information need only be labelled where its absence might mislead the consumer, but other rules require the origin for specific foods as follows:
1 Beef labelling (Reg 1760/2000) requires the origin of beef to be declared
Such labelling has been required for fresh beef and beef products since January 2002, as a consequence of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis. The label has to indicate the place of birth, rearing and slaughter.
Produced in Ireland using Irish pork and cheese but with a UK relish - traffic lights system also on front of pack
2 Regulation (EU) No 1337/2013 requires the origin of meat from pigs, goats, sheep and poultry to be on labels for consumers
If the meat does not originate in one single country, the indications required are:
“Reared in” (name of the member state or third country).“Slaughtered in” (name of the member state or third country).The batch code identifying the meat supplied to the consumer or mass caterer.3 Primary ingredient of a final food: (Reg 2018/775) requires the origin of a primary ingredient to be declared on the label
For example, where the origin of a chicken curry is declared as Irish on the label but the chicken is not Irish, then it will be a legal requirement to also give the origin of the chicken on the label.
Treat ‘best before’ as a
guideline and ‘use by’ as a deadline
The “use-by” date tells you when the food will become unsafe to eat.
The “use-by” date tells you when the food will become unsafe to eat. The “best before” date tells us when the quality of the food will begin to get worse but it would still be safe to eat. The cardinal rule is that food businesses cannot “mislead the consumer” and the legislation is in place - so much, you could find yourself buried in it. But even the authorities will admit that it is ambiguous so we need to continue to “watch this space”.
Send us your
questions and we
will endeavour to
get answers.
“All they need to do is put new
packaging on imported meat and
they can say it’s Irish”
“Without prejudice to more specific
provisions of food law, the labelling, advertising
and presentation of food or feed … shall not
mislead consumers.”
To ensure that information on packaging is accurate, not misleading and safe, food labelling rules are set out in Irish and EU law. These are mandatory information requirements and must be on the label. Other information which is not required by law is added by the manufacturer or retailer voluntarily.
We asked the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) to clarify a few things for us:
1 Who regulates food labelling in Ireland?
The FSAI is responsible for the enforcement of all pieces of food legislation in Ireland.
This enforcement function is carried out through service contracts with agencies including the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Health Service Executive (HSE), Local Authority Veterinary Service (LA) and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA).
How is this policed?
Inspectors from each of these agencies enforce the food labelling rules and provide advice to the food industry. The FSAI co-ordinates this enforcement and also deals directly with regulatory issues and complaints raised by consumers.
Misleading labels
(eg the farm name on a product when no such farm exists)
The FSAI acknowledges that information on a food label can at times be confusing or ambiguous and are therefore complaints are dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
2 How many complaints are made each year?
In 2019, 152 complaints were made to the FSAI about labelling (out of a total of 3,359 complaints). The complaints concerned incorrect labelling of allergens, complaints about country of origin labelling on foods, organic foods and labelling not being declared in English.
The FSAI also deals with many queries from the food industry about labelling. Country of origin labelling, allergen labelling, nutrition declaration and nutrition and health claims on foods were the most requested topics.
Nutrition and health claims
Legislation sets down specific labelling requirements for nutrition and health claims. There is a list and if the claim is not on this list, it is not permitted to be declared on a label. “Nutrition claim” means any claim which states, suggests or implies that a food has particular beneficial nutritional properties due to the energy and nutrients it provides.
These permitted nutrition claims will manifest most commonly on packaging as claims such as “low”, “reduced”, “free”, “no added”, “high in”, “source of”, “increased”, “light”, and “natural”.
And there is pretty strict criteria to be met before a company can use such claims on pack. Here are two examples:
‘Fat-free’
A claim that a food is fat-free, and any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer, may only be made where the product contains no more than 0.5g of fat per 100g or 100ml.
Claims expressed as “X% fat-free” are prohibited.
‘Natural’
Most would take “natural” to mean the product comes from nature and according to the regulations, it actually does have to. This can include:
Single-ingredient foods which are minimally processed (think chopping and peeling) but not when all other similar foods are natural. It has to have “special / different characteristics”. Foods with more than one ingredient (compound) cannot be called “natural”. However, if the product meets certain criteria, it can be marketed as “made with natural ingredients” like a cooked ham produced without the preservative nitrite. There is a special dispensation where a product is synonymous with the word “natural”.
For example dairy products such as “natural yoghurt” are manufactured from milk, only using starter cultures necessary for fermentation and are free from other ingredients
The onus is on the food business to ensure that the nutrition or health claim that they intend to use is permitted. It is a complicated business though and does beg the question; is self-regulation better than no regulation?
In part two of this series, we will talk “artisan”, “farmhouse” and “traditional”.
What has to be on the pack for nutrition and food safety?
There is a list of mandatory labelling information that is required on the labels of pre-packed foods. In general the following information must be declared on a food label:
Name – what the food is. Ingredients – a list in descending order of weight of everything that went into making the food.Allergens – any allergenic ingredient (there is a specific list) must be highlighted in the list of ingredients to distinguish these from all other ingredients.QUID (quantitative ingredient declaration) – It is sometimes necessary to state on the label the quantity, in percentage terms, of an ingredient or category of ingredients used in the manufacture or preparation of a foodstuff eg, the ham and mushroom need to be quantified in a “ham and mushroom” pizza. Net quantity – how much is in the food.Date marking – a “use-by” or “best before” date (see over).Any special storage conditions and/or conditions of use – how to maintain the safety and quality of the food.Name and address of food business – so the consumer knows who to contact about the food.Country of origin – only where its absence might mislead the consumer (see over).Instructions for use – where it would be difficult for consumers to make appropriate use of the food without such instructions.Nutrition declaration – see over.Nutrition information (energy, protein, fat etc) is displayed per 100g on the back of packs and sometimes per recommended serving. Safefood recommend using the per 100g column to compare products, but also to look at the recommended portion size as this may be more or less than what you actually eat.
What are traffic lights and are they required?
You will see a traffic lights system on packs (green, amber, red) which are
a voluntary declaration but they do fall under Regulation 1169/2011. Although developed in the UK, as we import a large amount of product from the UK, they appear on many food labels. The UK developed a guidance on this, which as you can imagine is:
Green – best choice.Amber – OK most of the time. Red – only choose occasionally What is substantial transformation?
This goes to the heart of our original question. The concern that products can be imported, a bit of value added and the product is suddenly Irish.
The EU has specific legislation for customs codes and origin and the determination of originating status is as follows:
Goods wholly obtained in a single country or territory are regarded as having their origin in that country or territory.Goods the production of which involves more than one country or territory are deemed to originate in the country or territory where they underwent their last, substantial, economically-justified processing or working, in an undertaking equipped for that purpose, resulting in the manufacture of a new product or representing an important stage of manufacture.In general, “last substantial transformation” is determined in three ways:
By change of tariff heading. By undergoing a manufacturing or processing operation listed in the customs rules that confers on the goods the origin of the country in which these operations were carried out. A value-added rule, where the increase of value due to assembly operations and incorporation of originating materials represents a specified level of the ex-works price of the product. Similar to when talking about “natural” and minimum processing, actions which are not considered as substantial include: preservation, sorting, washing, cutting up, changes of packing, assembly, sale, adding marks or labels to packaging or assembly/disassembly.
When is country of origin labelling compulsory?
Under general food labelling rules, the country of origin or place of provenance information need only be labelled where its absence might mislead the consumer, but other rules require the origin for specific foods as follows:
1 Beef labelling (Reg 1760/2000) requires the origin of beef to be declared
Such labelling has been required for fresh beef and beef products since January 2002, as a consequence of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis. The label has to indicate the place of birth, rearing and slaughter.
Produced in Ireland using Irish pork and cheese but with a UK relish - traffic lights system also on front of pack
2 Regulation (EU) No 1337/2013 requires the origin of meat from pigs, goats, sheep and poultry to be on labels for consumers
If the meat does not originate in one single country, the indications required are:
“Reared in” (name of the member state or third country).“Slaughtered in” (name of the member state or third country).The batch code identifying the meat supplied to the consumer or mass caterer.3 Primary ingredient of a final food: (Reg 2018/775) requires the origin of a primary ingredient to be declared on the label
For example, where the origin of a chicken curry is declared as Irish on the label but the chicken is not Irish, then it will be a legal requirement to also give the origin of the chicken on the label.
Treat ‘best before’ as a
guideline and ‘use by’ as a deadline
The “use-by” date tells you when the food will become unsafe to eat.
The “use-by” date tells you when the food will become unsafe to eat. The “best before” date tells us when the quality of the food will begin to get worse but it would still be safe to eat. The cardinal rule is that food businesses cannot “mislead the consumer” and the legislation is in place - so much, you could find yourself buried in it. But even the authorities will admit that it is ambiguous so we need to continue to “watch this space”.
Send us your
questions and we
will endeavour to
get answers.
This is a subscriber-only article
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