Food labelling

CEFS supports the clear, informative, science-based, and non-misleading labelling of food products in order to help consumers make informed choices.

This is why CEFS follows the implementation and interpretation of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 on food information to consumers (FIC), which establishes the general principles, requirements, and responsibilities governing food information, and in particular food labelling.

CEFS also follows the implementation and interpretation of Regulation (EC) 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods, which governs how food business operators can highlight (on the products labels or in their advertising) certain particularities of their products, in relation to their nutritional composition or health impact.

Sugar is a standardised product defined in Directive 2001/111/EC. The Directive provides that the product names defined shall apply only to the products referred to therein and shall be used in trade to designate them. CEFS makes sure that the name ‘sugar’ is properly used.

In addition, CEFS is an observer in the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) where labelling is discussed at a global level.

Regarding labelling, CEFS is particularly interested and involved in the discussions on:

  • Article 18(3) to FIC: definition of ‘engineered’ nanomaterial.
  • Article 26 to FIC: provisions on country of origin labelling

  • Article 35 to FIC: additional form of expression and presentation which concerns front-of-pack nutrition labelling.

Feed labelling

The Feed Marketing Regulation 767/2009 (FMR) replaced Directive 96/25 and established a catalogue of feed materials that is to support labelling. The European Commission published the first version of the catalogue, a copy-paste of the non-exhaustive list of feed materials of the 96/25 Directive. The FMR invites the feed business community to revise and update it.

CEFS as a member and coordinator (along with FEFAC and Copa-Cogeca) of the EU Feed Chain Task Force contributes to the regular updates of the Catalogue of Feed Materials, particularly for category 4 (“Tubers, roots, and products derived thereof”) and category 12 (“Products and by-products obtained by fermentation using micro-organisms, inactivated resulting in absence of live micro- organisms”) where CEFS members’ products are listed. The most recent (third) update was published on 15 June 2017 under Regulation (EU) 2017/1017.

The FMR foresees that those who, for the first time, place on the market a feed material that is not listed in the catalogue shall immediately notify its use to the representatives of the European feed business sectors. The representatives of the European feed business sectors shall publish a register of such notifications on the internet and update the register on a regular basis. The register was established by the Feed Chain Task Force and can be found here.