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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) improve the transparency of country of origin food labelling for online retailers and (b) help ensure that country of origin labelling is equally transparent in both online and in-store retailers.

Food Information to Consumers Regulations require many foods to declare the origin on the label. This includes where the consumer would be misled if it were not given, and always for specific foods such as beef, veal, lamb, mutton, pork, goat, poultry, fish, shellfish, honey, olive oil, wine and most fruit and vegetables. Additionally, there are rules that help prevent the consumer from being misled about the origin of the primary ingredient of the food, although the majority of meat and dairy products sold at retail voluntarily provide the origin of the meat or dairy ingredients.

Regulations ensure that where pre-packed foods are sold at distance or online, all mandatory particulars including country of origin should be available before the point of purchase and at the point of delivery. The Government is committed to optimising the information that is available to consumers, including country of origin, so that they can make informed choices in both online and in-store environments.