Food information to consumers - legislation

EU law on food information to consumers

Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers entered into application on 13 December 2014. The obligation to provide nutrition information applies since 13 December 2016.

The new law combines two Directives into one Regulation:

2000/13/EC - Labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs (applicable until 12 December 2014)
90/496/EEC - Nutrition labelling for foodstuffs.

Key Changes

Improved legibility of information (minimum font size for mandatory information)
Clearer and harmonised presentation of allergens (e.g. soy, nuts, gluten, lactose) for prepacked foods (emphasis by font, style or background colour) in the list of ingredients
Mandatory allergen information for non-prepacked food, including in restaurants and cafes
Requirement of certain nutrition information for majority of prepacked processed foods
Mandatory origin information for fresh meat from pigs, sheep, goats and poultry
Same labelling requirements for online, distance-selling or buying in a shop
List of engineered nanomaterials in the ingredients
Specific information on the vegetable origin of refined oils and fats
Strengthened rules to prevent misleading practices
Indication of substitute ingredient for 'Imitation' foods
Clear indication of "formed meat" or "formed fish"
Clear indication of defrosted products.

The Regulation clarifies in its Article 8 the responsibilities of food business operators with respect to food information.

Background information on the adoption of the Regulation

Adoption calendar of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011

22 November 2011: Regulation (EU) N°1169/2011 published
27 July 2011: Commission Opinion on the European Parliament's position on the Council's common position
6 July 2011: European Parliament second reading position on the proposed legislation, agreed with the Council

Commissioner Dalli's statement and Q&A on the food information Regulation

22 February 2011: Commission Communication to the European Parliament on Council's common position
21 February 2011: Council's common position
16 June 2010: European Parliament first reading position on the Commission proposal
30 January 2008: Commission proposal

More on the original Commission proposal

The Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection considered a number of labelling issues. In order to provide a more coherent basis in the future and redefine the foundations of our approach, we launched a dialogue with our key stakeholders in our established consultative fora.

The background paper used to frame these discussions has been sent to Member States and was also discussed during meetings of the following Groups:

Advisory Group on the Food Chain and Animal and Plant Health
European Consumer Consultative Group
Consumer Policy Network of senior consumer officials
Health Policy Forum

Stakeholders were also invited to send their individual responses until June 16th, 2006. A summary (last updated on 05-03-2007) of these responses, and the individual responses, are available.