Food watchdog to take action on misleading labelling

Consumers in the province are being misled by meaningless descriptions like ‘country style’ and vague terms such as ‘fresh’, ‘traditional’ and ‘homemade’ on food labels.

A recent report by the Food Advisory Committee, the result of a two-year study for the Food Standards Agency, slams the food industry for misusing terms and says tighter enforcement is needed.

The committee studied the use of the terms: fresh; natural; pure; traditional; original; authentic; homemade; and farmhouse, and the Food Standards Agency is to use the report as the basis of consultation on new industry standards that will aim to protect consumers and also provide a framework for more effective enforcement.

Paying tribute to the Food Advisory Committee members who have produced the report Michael Walker, Chairman of the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee of the Food Standards Agency said: "This is an important study which takes forward the rights of consumers and doesn’t pull any punches.

"People have a basic right to clear and meaningful labels so that they know what they are really buying – this goes to the very heart of consumer choice. "Terms such as fresh, pure or authentic can be misused and, to quote the report, ‘labellers have a tendency to be economical with the truth.’

Setting out a number of detailed recommendations, the report will be used by the Food Standards Agency as the basis for advice to industry and as guidelines for enforcement authorities on when these terms should and should not be used.

The report also considered the use of pictures on food labels and advertising and recommends that they should be governed by the same guidance as terms and phrases. In particular the report concluded that food labelling using ‘country style’ should be avoided and that ‘farmhouse’ should be used sparingly.

Recent consumer research indicated that almost 75 percent of consumers found certain terms commonly used in food labels misleading.

Publication of the established standards will be followed up by further surveys and regular spot-checks.

(SP)