Brussels, 26/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the EU (CIAA) gave a mixed welcome to the second-reading recommendation on the proposed regulation on consumer information on foods (EUROPE 10362). Expressing concern at excessive complications for the industry and superfluous information, it calls on the plenary to be guided by common sense and pragmatism, when it takes position on the text in July.
The industry welcomes the exemptions provided for small packages and the fact that criteria other than font size alone have been taken into account for legibility (such as font, contrast, etc), but does not approve of the attempt to reintroduce an obligatory minimum font size, which was rejected by the Parliament at first reading. If there is an obligatory minimum size, this should be no more than 1 mm, the sector states. The CIAA welcomes the fact that the parliamentary committee has chosen to put eight nutrients in the same field of vision, but observes that the fibre content of food will not be included. The fact that trans-fats are included among the obligatory information goes "a bit too far", in the association's view. The industry supports the Council's view that this should be voluntary.
The industry calls on the members of the European Parliament to avoid duplication in the information to be given to the consumer. Although the parliamentary committee agreed that the energy value should be repeated on the front of the package, it requests that this value be expressed per 100 g or 100 mL, with per portion information possible only in addition. "This will create an unnecessary duplication of information for energy per 100 g/100 mL, because this information is already listed (along with other nutrients) in the nutrient declaration (usually back-of-pack) for comparison purposes", stresses the CIAA. Additionally, the industry notes that it already supplies information about energy value per portion, in line with the expectations of consumers, who find that nutritional information per portion is more meaningful when making informed choices. The CIAA is disappointed that the MEPs took position in favour of an obligatory extension of the existing rules on the labelling of origin to single-ingredient products, against the wishes of the Member States, the Commission and the industry in favour of an impact study to determine whether this will provide added value to the consumer and whether the implementation of this rule would be practical for the industry. The CIAA feels that the fact that the text authorises additional and national forms of expression and presentation of information runs counter to the functioning of the single market. The sector hopes for a well-balanced agreement to simplify current legislation on origin and to improve consumer understanding. (A.N./transl.fl)