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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that UK meat and dairy products are properly labelled from farm to fork.

In the UK we maintain high standards on information provided to consumers about their food, including the labelling of our high quality meat and dairy products. This is done through our legislation on the provision of food information and although food is a devolved matter, the same rules currently apply across all of the UK

The rules are based on the fundamental principle that information must not mislead consumers as to a food’s characteristics, including its place of provenance and method of manufacture or production. Rules on traceability are in place through various regulations such as General Food Law 178/2002 which require businesses to be able to identify from where they have received food and to where they have supplied it (‘one step forward and one step back’). It also requires food to be adequately labelled or identified to facilitate its traceability, including relevant documentation to support any claims about the food’s origin or characteristics later made to consumers.

Rules on the marketing of milk and milk products, including those which reserve dairy terms including “milk” and “cheese” specifically for the marketing of dairy products, are included in the Common Organisation of the Agricultural Markets (Regulation 1308/2013). Rules requiring origin labelling of fresh and frozen meat are included in our food information regime.

New rules were introduced across the UK in April of this year that require the origin of the primary ingredient of a food to be made clear to the consumer. The rules require that labels inform consumers if the country or place of origin of the primary ingredient of a food product is different to that of the origin stated, or implied, for the product as a whole, or at least a statement that the origin of the ingredient is different. This will further help UK consumers to identify whether foods have been wholly or only partly produced here in the UK. These rules augment existing legislation requiring the origin labelling of a range of foods including most fresh and frozen meats, the origin of which must be traceable under the regulations. There are no plans for information permitted or required on labels to change when the Transition Period ends.

Consumers are further informed about the provenance of their UK produced foods by a number of voluntary assurance schemes. Any such scheme or retailer providing such assurance must be able to show a proven chain of provenance supporting such claims.