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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with devolved Administrations on the consultation on proposed amendments to the domestic Food Information Regulations 2014 (FIR) (England) and parallel FIR regulations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales relating to allergen information for foods that are prepacked for direct sale to the consumer on the same premises from which they are sold.

The consultation on allergen information provisions, which closed on Friday 29 March, was a joint UK wide consultation between Defra, the Foods Standards Agency in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, and Food Standards Scotland. As food labelling is a devolved issue, the decision to run the consultation across the whole of the United Kingdom was dependent upon the support and involvement of the devolved administrations. Throughout the process, Defra officials have been working closely with officials from Food Standards Scotland and the Food Standards Agency.

Looking to the future, we will continue to work closely with the devolved administrations to ensure that all UK consumers have complete trust in the food they consume.