Report points way on food labeling issues
The report also includes recommendations on the responsibilities of food suppliers and the role of Government in providing the regulatory and educational framework for effective consumer protection in this important area.
Group Chairman Ned Sullivan said food labelling issues relating to allergens, misleading claims, consumer complaints, consumer awareness, the regulatory authorities and origin are among issues examined in the report.
The group says consumers should be provided with information on any potential allergen in a food they buy, either pre-packaged or loose, over-the-counter or in the food service sector. Misleading or ambiguous nutritional, health and functional claims should be expressly prohibited.
It recommends that only where an imported food undergoes substantial transformation (processing) in Ireland can it be designated as Irish.
Consumers should also be provided with information on the total meat content, broken down by the species from which it is derived, in all processed meat products, or food products with meat as an ingredient, sold in retail and food service outlets.
It suggests all consumer enquiries and complaints about food labelling should be addressed to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. The FSAI should be a one-stop-shop. Currently six Government bodies deal with consumer enquiries and complaints. The Departments of Agriculture and Food and of Health and Children should have the main responsibility for labelling policy and the FSAI should have overall responsibility for enforcing food labelling legislation.
A compulsory module on food safety-labelling should be included in the national school curriculum and Safefood, the food safety promotion board, should carry out a public awareness campaign about labelling, allergens and consumers’ entitlement to clear accurate labelling.
The group calls for ongoing consumer research into food labelling to establish a scientific base for consumers concerns in this area.
Specific consumer research should be carried out to establish how origin of meats should be defined i.e. by ‘country’ or by ‘EU/non-EU’. Consumer research should also establish the usefulness and effectiveness of the beef labelling regulations.
Mr Sullivan said some of the recommendations will require new EU legislation while in other cases national legislation would be required.
Minister Walsh thanked Mr Sullivan and the members of the group for their efforts in bringing the comprehensive report to fruition in a relatively short period of time.
He said he will make an appropriate response early in the new year.
The 19-member expert group was composed of all the key stakeholders in the food chain - consumers, producers, retailers, industry, trade and the regulatory agencies.
They consulted 97 submissions from the general public and representative groups.
