In a report published on Monday 25 November, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has scrutinised food labelling in the EU, pointing out a number of shortcomings and grey areas in the regulations.
In its report, the ECA considers that, although a great deal of information is provided for the benefit of consumers, “there are notable gaps in the EU legal framework as well as weaknesses in the monitoring, reporting, control systems, and sanctions”.
In the EU, there are four main regulations governing the information displayed on foodstuffs, as well as a number of other third party regulations relating to specific features such as place of origin, additives, etc. Mandatory information includes the best-before date, allergens, net quantity and storage details.
According to the ECA, in addition to this information, some manufacturers and producers are taking advantage of the lack of harmonisation of rules and standards to include un-sourced, often unverifiable and sometimes false information.
In its report, the Court gives the example of “health claims” for products with allegedly positive effects on health. Some plant substances are sold with a lot of claims about their beneficial effects on the body, but the scientific truth of these claims has not been proven.
The report also points to “the lack of harmonisation of rules on allergen precautionary labelling, the inadequacy of EU rules on legibility and the absence of European rules on vegetarian and vegan labels”, which are not subject to any common standard.
The ECA denounces control systems that are far from satisfactory. They focus on mandatory information, which is the most closely regulated, and do little to inspect advertising claims or uncertified labels. Certain claims can be used without the need to demonstrate that they correspond to reality.
According to the ECA, the Commission must rapidly define harmonised standards and regulations to alleviate information issues for consumers.
The Court also recommends finalising the rules on origin labelling and the specific problem of alcoholic beverages, with a deadline of 2027.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/eh3 (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)