§ Mr. Warrenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will state the views of Her Majesty's Government on the proposed EEC legislation on the labelling of food products, particularly, the proposed requirements for date marking, declaration of weight and specification of ingredients with particular reference to bakery products.
§ Mr. Strang:The directive is, in general, acceptable to us, though we have certain reservations about some of its provisions. These we are seeking to resolve as discussions proceed.
We recognise the need for the directive, when adopted, to be practical and realistic. It is proposed that the directive should allow member States to adopt their own rules where food is sold without prepackaging or is packaged on the sales premises at the consumers request or for immediate sale. If the derogation should be agreed by the Council of Ministers we would consult representatives of interested organisations about our own proposals before implementation.