Food: Labelling

(asked on 2nd December 2024) - View Source

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of media reports that puréed tomatoes produced by Uyghur slave labour in Xinjiang are sold in UK supermarkets as having been produced in Italy; and what steps they are taking to require products produced in a state accused of genocide and slave labour to be labelled as such.


Answered by
Baroness Hayman of Ullock Portrait
Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 19th December 2024

The Government expects all UK businesses to respect human rights in line with the OECD Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

We work to maintain high standards on the information that is provided on food labels so that consumers can have confidence in the food they buy. When the country of manufacture of a processed food, such as tomato puree, is provided on the label, the label must also show if the origin of the primary ingredient (the tomatoes in this case) is different. In any case, all information must be accurate and not mislead.

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