§ Mr. Simon CoombsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on progress in establishing a common European standard for the labelling of fats and other nutritional contents of food offered for sale.
§ Mr. MacleanThe directive on nutrition labelling rules was finally agreed by the Council on 24 September and was published in the Official Journal of 6 October. It lays down the statutory format for giving nutrition information on food labels. It provides for a two-stage approach with energy, protein, carbohydrates and fat in the first group, plus sugar, sodium, saturates and fibre in the second. The giving of information remains voluntary, although when given it must be comprehensive and in the agreed format. The exception to this is that, where a nutrition claim is made, the provision of the information in the agreed format is compulsory.
The first stage of the approach comes into effect from 1 October 1993; the second stage comes into effect two years later. There remain some detailed provisions still to be agreed but I anticipate these issues will be resolved within the initial run-in period. We are disappointed that we did not achieve earlier implementation dates and I know that consumer and health groups will be similarly disappointed. It was, however, not possible to rally majority support in Brussels for an earlier implementation date, and we thought it best to enable this important directive to be agreed without further delay and possible dilution. We shall be making the necessary changes to United Kingdom food labelling legislation, but in the meantime we shall now actively encourage the United Kingdom food industry to provide comprehensive nutrition information to the level of both first and second stages as we do already in the United Kingdom Government guidelines on nutrition labelling of food.
The second directive, giving powers to require selected nutrients to be the subject of compulsory labelling, has not been agreed, but we have ensured that it remains on the table in Brussels. There is a general support amongst a majority of member states for the principles behind this proposal, but it is felt that decisions about compulsory labelling will best be considered after experience has been gained with the voluntary system. Because the science of nutrition is relatively new and ideas and knowledge are still developing, the United Kingdom Government are prepared to go along with the majority view whilst wishing to ensure that the issue of compulsory nutrition labelling does not disappear from view.