§ 21. Miss Geraldine SmithTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proposals his Department has to improve the information on food made available to consumers. [42742]
§ Mr. RookerThe Food Labelling Regulations 1996 will be amended on 1 July this year to introduce new EC requirements for quantitative ingredient declarations. They will also require starch and modified starch used as ingredients of foods to indicate their specific vegetable origin if they are likely to contain gluten. These changes will become compulsory with effect from 14 February 2000. The UK has taken the lead in the EC on guidelines' to explain the new rules on quantitative ingredient declarations so that consumers are given consistent and uniform information on food labels.