§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prosecutions were launched for wrong or inadequate food information labelling over the last year, broken down by local authority. [184441]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonI am informed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that the latest available information is for the calendar year 2001. Local authority data reported to the FSA shows that, during 2001, 137 premises were prosecuted for food labelling and presentation issues in England. The local authorities which took the prosecutions and the number of premises subject to prosecution by each authority are shown in the table.
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Local authorities taking food labelling and presentation prosecutions for the year 2001 Local authority Number of premises prosecuted for food labelling and presentation issues Barnet 1 Bedfordshire 1 Buckinghamshire 4 Burnley 1 Coventry 5 Derby City 2 Dorset 1 Dudley 3 Durham 1 Ealing 1 East Yorkshire 4 Essex 9 Forest of Dean 1 Gloucestershire 1 Hampshire 4 Harlow 3 Hounslow 4 Kent 7 Lancashire 3 Leeds 2 Lincolnshire 1 Manchester 4 Milton Keynes 1 Newbury (West Berkshire) 2 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 4 Newham 1 North East Lincolnshire 2 North Yorkshire 4
Local authorities taking food labelling and presentation prosecutions for the year 2001 Local authority Number of premises prosecuted for food labelling and presentation issues Northamptonshire 12 Nottingham City 3 Plymouth City 1 Reading 1 Salford 1 Shropshire 3 Somerset 4 South Oxfordshire 1 Southampton 1 St. Helens 1 Stockport Stockton-on-Tees 1 Stoke-on-Trent 2 Surrey 2 Tameside 1 The Wrekin 3 Tower Hamlets 1 Warwickshire 1 West Sussex 3 West Yorkshire 14 Westminster 1 Total 137
§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his discussions with the Trading Standards Institute on food information labelling. [184442]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonFood labelling as part of the enforcement of food law is the responsibility of local authorities. The Food Standards Agency provides advice, information or assistance relating to enforcement of food law generally and liaises regularly with the Trading Standards Institute and its members on such issues.
§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on progress being made by the European Union on the implementation of a common system of food information labelling; [184443]
(2) what discussions the Food Standards Agency had on the issue of food information labelling, with specific regard to the evolution of a common EU approach. [184444]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonFood labelling rules are agreed at European Union level. Directive 2000/13/EC and the Nutrition Labelling Directive 90/46/EC provide the legislative framework. The European Commission is currently carrying out a comprehensive review of both these directives. It has said that it expects to adopt a proposal for amendment of 90/46/EC later this year and has asked member states for views on issues to be tackled in the review. The Food Standards Agency is currently consulting stakeholders before responding to this request.