What are the Labelling Requirements as per EU Food Labelling Regulations?
The objective of enacting the EU food labelling regulations is to ensure food safety for consumers. Food consumers should need to have access to complete information on the content and composition of products so that their health and their interests are protected.
As per the EU food labelling regulations, the prepacked food labels should display the following details:
3. Information on certain foods causing allergies or intolerances that were used in the manufacture or preparation of a food
4. The number of certain ingredients
5.The net quantity of the food
6. Date of minimum durability or 'use by’ date
7. Any special storage conditions and/or conditions of use
8. The name or business name and address of the food business operator under whose name the food is being marketed (or the importer in some cases)
9. The country of origin or place of provenance of the food (if required)
11. The alcoholic strength by volume
12.A nutrition declaration - see more on nutrition labelling
In a prepacked food product, the food product is partly or fully enclosed with a package, cannot be altered without opening or changing the packaging, and should be ready for sale to the final customer or mass caterer. Food processors have to see that all labels are showing metric units. However, dual labelling is also acceptable.
Also, note that the EU food labelling regulation stands on the comprehensive food safety framework that covers not just safe food, but also animal health, animal welfare, plant health, and extends to food hygiene. The regulation framework also wants to ensure that food is traceable throughout the food chain, from the farm, where the food is grown to the dining table where the food is consumed.
Built with a farm-to-fork approach, the EU food labelling regulations want to ensure that the food manufacturers cannot be able to mislead the consumer as to the effects or features of the food.
Food manufacturers have to follow these EU food labelling regulations when they are placing their food products on the market. But where they struggle is when it comes to creating food labels for their prepacked food products manually, or through the conventional lab testing method. Modern food processors are using automated food nutrition analysis and labelling solutions to simplify and streamline their workflow instead. It enables them to accelerate the entire process.
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