§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on progress with nutritional labelling.
§ Mr. Maclean[pursuant to his reply, 24 November 1989]: My reply of 24 November contained a typing error. I apologise to the hon. Member. The reply should have read:
We are taking an active part in negotiation of the European Commission's nutrition labelling proposals and hope that a common position will be reached soon. The proposals are similar to the Ministry's nutrition labelling guidelines and provide for a voluntary system of nutrition labelling with a mandatory format so that consumers can compare products more easily. Nutrition labelling would be compulsory only when a nutrition claim was made. There is provision for a three-year lead-in period to allow labels to be changed and, given the close resemblance of the guidelines to the Commission proposals, I hope that manufacturers and retailers will be encouraged to provide as much nutrition information as possible within their resources according to the guidelines until Community legislation is in place.I also refer the hon. Member to the debate on nutritional labelling in Standing Committee on 1 November 1989 (ISBN 0 10 999789 1)