12 March 2024 , 08:58
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The Government has plans to make food labels clearer so shoppers can easily buy "high quality" British food.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the labels will be more honest about where a product comes from. Also, pork, chicken and eggs will need to have "method of production" information on their packaging. This will help shoppers make choices that match their values.
Environment Secretary Steve Barclay said these plans will not only help shoppers but also give British farmers the "recognition they deserve". A consultation, first announced at the Oxford Farming Conference in January, will look at how to improve country-of-origin labelling for certain goods.
This includes how and where this information is displayed and what products should be included. Defra gave an example of imported pork cured into bacon in the UK, which can currently feature a Union Jack on its label.
The consultation will explore ways to make it clearer to shoppers that the pig was reared abroad. This could be done by making the country-of-origin text bigger or putting it on the front of the packet.
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Under the proposals, packaging for pork, chicken and eggs would include a compulsory five-tier label for both domestic and imported products. This would show whether they fall below, meet or exceed baseline UK animal welfare regulations.
Mr Barclay said: "This Government backs British farmers, who work hard to produce food to world-leading standards and maintain our nation's food security. British consumers want to buy their produce, but too often products made to lower standards abroad aren't clearly labelled to tell them apart."
"That is why I want to make labelling showing where and how food is produced fairer and easier to understand empowering consumers to make informed choices and rewarding our British farmers for producing high-quality, high-welfare food."
The chairwoman of the Consortium of Labelling for the Environment, Animal Welfare and Regenerative Farming, Fidelity Weston, said: "We are looking forward to the opportunity to comment on Defra's proposed food labelling consultation and we are glad to see that progress to help the consumer understand more about how and where their food has been produced is beginning to be considered."
"We in the UK have some of the highest farming standards, producing quality food products. That needs to be recognised in the marketplace. To achieve this, we need a clear definition of the many terms used to describe the method of production, and transparency and honest data about how the food was produced on the farm, and right through to the end product." The consultation will run until May 7.