1 | ARTHUR COX
Food &
Agribusiness
Group Briefing
October 2015
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland
(FSAI) has recently issued Guidance Note
No. 29 on the Use of Food Marketing
Terms (Guidance Note 29). This
guidance aims to give greater clarity to
both food businesses and consumers
on the permitted use of the words
‘Artisan’, ‘Farmhouse’, ‘Traditional’ and
‘Natural’. Guidance Note 29 is the work
of an FSAI working group composed
of representatives from large and
small-scale food producers, consumer
organisations and trade associations.
Guidance Note 29 does not replace
more specific rules for the marketing of
particular commodities, such as EU rules
on traditional butter, the rules relating
to natural mineral water, or foods
registered under the EU’s traditional
specialities guaranteed scheme.
FOOD & AGRIBUSINESS
FSAI Issues New
Guidance on Use of Food
Marketing Terms
»» The characteristic ingredient(s) used
in the food are grown or produced
locally, where seasonally available
and practical.
‘Limited quantities’ means 1000kg per
week over an average of one year. The
notions of ‘skilled craftspeople’ using
‘traditional methods’ draws on a similar
concept contained in EU law, where
a method of food production has a
proven usage on the domestic market
for a period that allows ‘transmission
between the generations’, which
period is to be at least 30 years. ‘Microenterprise’ is also a concept defined at
EU level and is taken to mean a business
which employs fewer than ten people
and whose annual turnover does not
exceed €2 million. ‘Locally produced’ is
taken to mean within a 100km radius of
a manufacturing premises.
Guidance Note 29 goes on to clarify that
certain foods, including bread with a
split and rounded crust and soup made
with course cut or chunky vegetables,
which do not meet these criteria per
se, may continue to be marketed as
‘farmhouse’ products. This allowance
is based on the understanding that
the term ‘farmhouse’ has become
synonymous with those foods over
many years. Guidance Note 29 provides a
further clarification that use of the term
‘farm fresh’ for pasteurised milk and
cream is not affected by the new criteria
for the term ‘farmhouse’.
TRADITIONAL
Guidance Note 29 establishes the
following 4 criteria for the permitted
use of the term ‘Artisan’ or ‘Artisanal’ on
food labels:
FARMHOUSE
»» The food is made in limited
quantities by skilled craftspeople;
»» The food is made in a single location
on a farm (as that term is defined under
Common Agricultural Policy rules);
The criteria laid down for use of the
term ‘traditional’ draws heavily on the
existing definition of that term under
Regulation 1151/20121 concerning
the traditional specialities guaranteed
scheme, albeit with a recognition
that methods of mass production do
not automatically disqualify a food
from being described as ‘traditional’.
Guidance Note 29 provides that the
term ‘traditional’ may be used where at
least one of the following two criteria
are satisfied:
»» The food is made by a microenterprise; and
1
ARTISAN
»» The processing method is not
fully mechanised and follows a
traditional method;
»» The food is made in a microenterprise at a single location; and
For the correct use of the marketing term
‘Farmhouse’, the following criteria have
been laid down by Guidance Note 29:
»» The characteristic ingredient(s) of the
food are grown locally.
Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 21 November
2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products
and foodstuffs
This document contains a general summary of developments and is not a complete or definitive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should be obtained where appropriate.
FOOD & AGRIBUSINESS
2 | ARTHUR COX
FSAI ISSUES NEW GUIDANCE ON USE OF FOOD
MARKETING TERMS
»» The food is made to an authentic
recipe which can be proven to
have existed without significant
modification for at least 30 years, OR
»» The food has been made using a
method of preparation that has:
»» existed for more than 30 years,
although automation and
mechanisation of these methods
is acceptable, and
»» does not deviate substantially
from the traditional food
processing method associated
with a certain type of food.
»» contain other food additives that are
obtained from natural sources.
‘FARMHOUSE-STYLE’ AND ‘TRADITIONAL-STYLE’
Use of the terms ‘farmhouse-style’
and ‘traditional-style’ on products not
meeting the criteria for the indications
‘farmhouse’ and ‘traditional’, is deemed
under Guidance Note 29 to be an
unhelpful qualifier for consumers.
The FSAI advises that, should these
qualifiers be used, the overall marketing
of the food must not seek to convey to
the consumer that the product is an
authentic farmhouse or traditional food.
KEY CONTACTS
For further information, please speak to
your usual Arthur Cox contact or one of
the following lawyers:
ISABEL FOLEY
PARTNER
+353 1 618 0450
[email protected]
NATURAL
For single ingredient foods to be branded
as ‘natural’, the food must be formed by
nature and not significantly interfered
with by man. The FSAI re-iterates in
Guidance Note 29 that, as provided for
in EU Regulation 1169/20112 on food
information to consumers, the term
‘natural’ may not be applied to foods
when in fact all other similar foods are
also natural. Minimal processing such
as chopping, slicing, peeling and juicing
will not disqualify a single ingredient
product from being termed ‘natural’.
Compound foods, being, by their nature,
manmade, cannot be marketed as
natural products. It is, however, possible
to use the indication ‘made from natural
ingredients’ where the ingredients of a
compound food themselves individually
satisfy the criteria for the use of the term
‘natural’ and the final compound food
can be said to be:
CONCLUSION
Guidance notes issued by the FSAI are
aimed at assisting food businesses in
complying with general principles
of food law, such as the overarching
obligation not to mislead consumers,
though they do not constitute a
definitive interpretation of the law.
Indeed, Guidance Note 29 itself leaves
further scope for interpretation. Earlier
this year, following an expression of
concern from the FSAI, McDonalds
removed the word ‘artisan’ from
its promotion of a new range of
hamburgers, further underlining the
significance of FSAI guidance notes for
food business operators.
DEBORAH SPENCE
PARTNER
+353 1 618 0444
[email protected]
ORLA CLAYTON
ASSOCIATE
+353 1 618 0437
[email protected]
»» additive-free, or
»» contain flavouring defined as natural
under EU Regulation 1334/2008 on
flavourings, or
DANIELLE CONAGHAN
ASSOCIATE
+353 1 618 1197
[email protected]
Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011
on the provision of food information to consumers
2
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