Food safety chiefs crack down on ‘misleading’ marketing terms

Food safety chiefs are to crack down on misleading food labels like ‘artisan’, ‘farmhouse’, ‘traditional’, and ‘natural’.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has published guidelines aimed at ensuring consumers are not misled by marketing terms. It will no longer be acceptable to label an item ‘artisan’ if it is in fact mass produced, while consumers will also hopefully be spared the term ‘farmhouse’ for something which is made in a factory.

According to the guidelines, ‘artisan’ can only be used if the product is made in limited quantities by skilled craftspeople using a traditional method in a micro-enterprise and if characteristic ingredients are grown or produced locally.