We quite often get asked if a small business is exempt from displaying mandatory nutritional food label information..
We’ve pt together a basic overview of who’s required and who’s not required to display this information to comply with the European Food Information to Consumers Regulation No 1169/2011 (FIC) and the Food Information Regulations 2014 (FIR).
In short, YES you are required to display the mandatory information:
These rules apply to you if you operate a food business, even if you give food to consumers for free. You don’t need to give food information to customers if you’re not a food business and you’re providing food for an occasional event, like a village fair.
Pre-packed food is any food that’s put into packaging before being put on sale and that cannot be altered without opening or changing the packaging.
Mandatory Information to display on labels or packaging
- Name of the food
- Quantitative ingredients declaration (QUID) (where needed)
- List of ingredients (including allergens)
- Weight or volume of the food (net quantity)
- The ‘best before’ or ‘use by’ date
- Name and address of the food business operator (FBO) responsible for the food information (Producer, Packer or Seller)
- The alcoholic strength by volume (as a percentage) on drinks containing over 1.2% alcohol by volume
Allergen labelling
You must provide information on allergens in food. This includes substances produced or derived from allergens or used in processing the food.
Allergens:
- cereals containing gluten, eg wheat (including spelt and khorasan wheat), rye, barley and oats
- crustaceans, eg prawns, crabs, lobster, crayfish
- eggs
- fish
- peanuts
- soybeans
- milk (including lactose)
- nuts (ie almonds, hazelnuts, pistachio nuts, pecan nuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts and macadamia or Queensland nuts)
- celery (including celeriac)
- mustard
- sesame seeds
- sulphur dioxide/sulphites, if they are more than 10 milligrams per kilogram or 10 milligrams per litre in the finished product
- lupin, including lupin seeds and flour
- molluscs, eg mussels, oysters, snails and squid
Nutritional Claims
You must nutritional label pre-packed food products with nutritional information if:
- you make a nutritional or health claim on the packaging (eg ‘high in fibre’ or ‘good source of calcium’)
- vitamins or minerals have been added to the food
You can choose to provide nutrition information on other food products.
When you provide nutrition information, you must follow the guidance on nutrition labelling.
Distance Selling
If you sell food products online or by phone or mail order, you must make the required information available for free to the customer before they buy (except the durability and freezing dates) and when it is delivered to them.
Order your food or product UK compliant nutritional labeling TODAY!
This information covers the basics but for more in-depth information either contact us or visit the .gov Food labeling guide
