Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July to Question 61881 on Western Sahara: Origin Marking, if she is aware that Tesco sells tomatoes from Western Sahara labelled as produce of Morocco and if she will take action to ensure change.

The UK maintains high standards on the information provided on food labels and packaging so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy. The fundamental principles of our food labelling rules are that information provided to the consumer must not mislead and must enable consumers to make informed decisions.

It is the UK position that where origin information is given for food products made or grown in the Western Sahara, it must give accurate origin information and cannot be labelled as Moroccan.

Food labelling rules are enforced by local authorities. Defra officials will follow up on the matters raised so that the appropriate bodies can investigate further.