Buckinghamshire County Council
Food Information Regulations
Helping Consumers Make
Healthier Choices?
David Pickering
Team Leader Buckinghamshire Trading
Standards/TSI Lead Officer Food and
Nutrition
Buckinghamshire County Council
What do consumers think?
Half of UK respondents claimed ‘always’ or
‘usually’ to look at the labels
on products they bought for the first time
(FSA Consumer Attitudes survey 2007)
Buckinghamshire County Council
What do consumers think?
Very low engagement with food labels for
habitual purchases
(FSA/ IPSOS Mori survey 2010)
Buckinghamshire County Council
What do consumers think?
Individual dietary requirements are key in
determining the use of and engagement with
different elements of food labels.
(FSA/ IPSOS Mori survey 2010)
Buckinghamshire County Council
What do consumers think?
Consumers take about 8-10
seconds to make purchasing
decisions
Buckinghamshire County Council
What do consumers think?
50% said labels are very or quite important
and a further quarter (23%) said it
depends on the type of food.
(FSA Consumer Attitudes survey 2007)
Buckinghamshire County Council
What do consumers think?
63% felt that the amount of information
provided on food labels was
‘about right’
(FSA Consumer Attitudes survey 2007)
Buckinghamshire County Council
What do consumers think?
Use of additives in food products (28%).
The amount of sugar in food (48%), and the
amount of salt in food (47%).
(FSA Public Attitudes Tracker survey 2014)
Buckinghamshire County Council
What do consumers think?
The amount of fat, saturated fat, salt and
sugar in foods are still the top issues of
concern among consumers and the quantity
of fat and salt are the most commonly
checked for nutritional information on labels
(FSA Consumer Attitudes survey 2007)
Buckinghamshire County Council
What do consumers think?
66% found food labels easy to understand
(FSA Consumer Attitudes survey 2007)
Buckinghamshire County Council
What do consumers think?
Nine out of ten respondents claimed that
healthy eating is important to them
(FSA Consumer Attitudes survey 2007)
Buckinghamshire County Council
What do consumers think?
More than half of UK consumers think
nutritional information on food and drink
packaging is hard for the average shopper to
understand
(CIM survey 2014)
Buckinghamshire County Council
What we actually do?
Since 2002, the average body weight of
English adults has increased by two
kilograms
This has coincided with a decline in calorie
consumption of over 4% and a decline in
sugar consumption of nearly 7.5%.
(“The Fat Lie” Institute of Economic Affairs August 2014)
Buckinghamshire County Council
There is no such thing as a
bad food!
Buckinghamshire County Council
What we actually do?
Calories in a Mars Bar 280
Buckinghamshire County Council
What do we actually do?
Casual walking burns about 280 cals an hour
General running burns about 320 calories per
30 minutes
Leisurely swimming burns about 480 per hour
Buckinghamshire County Council
How do we help
consumers have the right
information to make more
informed choices?
Buckinghamshire County Council
Current Food Labelling Regs
Nutrition information and
claims
Allergen information
Name of food
Buckinghamshire County Council
The Nutrition and Health
Claims Regulations are
also relevant to the public
health agenda
Buckinghamshire County Council
Food Information Regulations
Regulate food information
Not just the label
Now covers distance selling
Buckinghamshire County Council
FiCs/FiRs headline changes
Allergen information will need to be provided
for both prepacked and non-prepacked (and
prepacked for direct sale) food
Allergy advice box not allowed
There is a minimum font size for mandatory
information and for voluntary repeat (“front of
pack”) nutrition labelling
Buckinghamshire County Council
FiCs/FiRs headline changes
Voluntary repeat (“front of pack”) nutrition
information will have to follow set formats
Nutrition information becomes mandatory for
the majority of prepacked food and must be
presented in a consistent format
Buckinghamshire County Council
FiCs/FiRs headline changes
Existing national measures on
compositional requirements for some
cheese will be retained temporarily
Existing national measures
on the composition of ice-cream will be
revoked
Buckinghamshire County Council
FiCs/FiRs headline changes
Under Article 8(1) of EU FIC, the FBO under
whose name the food is marketed is primarily
responsible for the food information
Every other FBO in the food supply chain also
has to take responsibility for ensuring that the
information is accurate and must not supply
food which they know or presume to be noncompliant with the law
Buckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire County Council
Mandatory information will take
priority over other information(eg
marketing) on the label
Buckinghamshire County Council
Food Information Regulations 2014
Offence not to comply with FIC(allergens)
Reg 10
Improvement notices(IN) for other non
compliances Reg 12 and Schedule 5 and
s10 Food Safety Act
Appeal process for INs
Buckinghamshire County Council
Improvement notices
Appeal within 28 days
Appeal goes to First Tier
Tribunal
Buckinghamshire County Council
Improvement notices
Impact of Primary Authority
Partnerships
Buckinghamshire County Council
Working together
Sampling lead by public health
agenda
Sampling projects to inform advice
Healthy Eating schemes
In Bucks Eat Out Eat Well
Buckinghamshire County Council
Working together
How do we influence consumers
and businesses with regard to the
healthier eating agenda?
Buckinghamshire County Council
Non mandatory initiatives
5 a day
Responsibility Deal
Catering establishments schemes
Buckinghamshire County Council