Food and Drink (Miscellaneous Amendments Relating to Food and Wine Composition, Information and Labelling) Regulations 2021

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff Excerpts

Wednesday 19th May 2021 Grand Committee

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I declare my interest as chair of the Commission on Alcohol Harm, and I previously chaired the 2006-07 Science and Technology Select Committee on allergy.

Having left the EU, we could be doing better to provide all the relevant information people need for their purchasing decisions. For those with a food allergy, labelling is essential to survival. The burden of allergy is in infants, in whom the prevalence is 5% to 7%. There is a range of manifestations, from a rash to life-threatening anaphylaxis. In adults, the prevalence is 1% to 2% and persists through life. The LEAP—Learning Early About Peanut Allergy—study built on desensitization. In addition, many adults have intolerance to some foods but do not have an IgE-mediated allergic reaction.

As there is no universal threshold amount that triggers an allergic reaction, some manufacturers resorted to defensive labelling, but this is of almost no help to those with an allergy. Although food labelling requires documenting known allergens—such as egg, milk, nuts, shellfish, fish and so on—the profile of allergens is changing. For example, the incidence of peanut allergy has risen dramatically in recent decades. Can the Minister reassure us that there will be flexibility in approach and that labelling will be reviewed in three years’ time?

Looking at the labelling of honey, will these regulations ensure that all honey is 100% pure honey from bees, and cannot be called “honey” if it is bolstered by syrups?

Eating out is particularly hazardous for those with food allergies. Teenagers and young adults sometimes take dangerously high risks when buying food, and we have heard of tragic deaths in young people all too often. Can the Minister explain how food outlets will be required to ensure that the food they serve is appropriately labelled, as it is not in these regulations?

The Commission on Alcohol Harm recommended better alcohol labelling. Currently, 80% of people do not know the Chief Medical Officer’s weekly consumption guidelines. Similarly, 80% of people are unaware of the calorie content of common drinks. They do not know that a small glass of wine has the same calories as three Jaffa Cakes or that one pint of beer is equivalent to eating a Mars bar. In the EU, alcohol has been exempt from labelling requirements that apply to all other food and drinks, so alcohol product labels are devoid of information on ingredients, calories, nutrition, drinking guidelines or health warnings. Covid-19 revealed that obesity is linked to high death rates. Severe obesity is rightly called “morbid obesity”. Information empowers consumers to take control of their health and make informed choices about what and how much they consume.

Research from the Alcohol Health Alliance has demonstrated the inadequacy of alcohol labels. Despite the Government’s efforts to encourage alcohol producers to reflect the drinking guidelines on labels, more than 70% of the labels reviewed did not include the up-to-date guidelines and only 7% displayed full nutritional information, including calories. Yet, when asked, 75% of people want the number of units in a product on alcohol labels, and 61% want calorie information.

The Government are committed to reducing obesity, so why are alcoholic drinks not included in the regulations? Why is only wine included and why does wine labelling restrict itself to the provenance of the wine? Will sulphites still have to appear on the label? They can be potent allergens. Better alcohol labelling should form part of an obesity strategy and a comprehensive alcohol strategy. If the role of food labelling is to inform, to empower people to protect themselves from harm and to allow regulation to support that duty to protect our citizens from harm, updating the labelling becomes a moral imperative.