Food Marketing

The value of EU Geographical Indication (GI) food and drink products

On 4 March 2013 the European Commission published the results of a study undertaken on the value of Geographical Indication (GI) food products. The results provide some insight into the overall impact of GI products which are considered here from the perspective of the UK.

A GI is the name of a product where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the product is essentially attributable to its geographical origin. It is a type of intellectual property right that can apply in the EU to different types of products under one of four schemes.

Front of pack labelling – shuffling deck chairs or making a difference?

On 31 January 2013 the Department of Health (DoH) published Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling: Joint Response to Consultation. The report is a response to the consultation carried out last summer on front of pack (FoP) nutrition labelling in which the Department of Health states its commitment to the provision of information aimed at helping people make healthy choices. Will it make a difference?

Relax, simplified food labelling and traffic lights are on the way …

Earlier this month Defra launched a consultation seeking views on plans for new domestic legislation to enforce the food information to consumers (FIC) Regulation (EU) 1169/2011.

Balls in cooking ... and a bit of the same in shopping!

On a day when I read that 1 in 5 adults think parsnips grow on trees and hear that 76% of our local butchers, some 19,000, have closed over the last 30 years my level of despair rises exponentially. I am neither a butcher nor grower of parsnips, but I almost wondered whether it’s not time to give up and simply hand over the shop keys to Tesco accepting, as the Financial Times put it earlier this year, that it was time to let the British high street die. That took a mere second because I don’t give up on the things I cherish, especially where food is concerned, not ever!

Pollen is to become a natural constituent of honey!

Yes, you heard it right! The EU Commission is proposing an amendment to the honey Directive 2001/110/EC to define pollen as a natural constituent of honey – it will no longer be an ingredient.

EU publishes list of permitted health claims about food

Health claims on food labelling and in advertising have become important marketing tools. The EU believes consumers expect accurate information about products and, in particular, any health claims made. A ‘health’ claim is any statement about a relationship between food and health. Food producers who claim health benefits for their products need to take note.

Lochmuir doesn’t exist, does it matter?

The debasement of ordinary words that have no legal protection has been common enough. Much has been written about the abuse of ‘real’ ‘homemade’, ‘natural’, ‘local’ and ‘artisan’ being but a few examples. Only a few days ago Marion Nestle wrote in The Atlantic posing the question ‘Is 'Natural' the Most Meaningless Word on Your Food Labels?’ Although it was perhaps Dominos Pizza that took the abuse of ‘artisan’ to its most cynically exploited heights in launching ‘Dominos Artisan Pizza’ as “artisan pizza without the artisan price” while declaring “We’re not Artisans” on the box.

High Court rules on meaning of ‘use by’ date when food frozen

Last year Torfaen County Borough Council brought a prosecution against Douglas Willis Limited for a number of offences, all similar in nature, contrary to regulation 44(1)(d) of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996. This is the regulation that makes it an offence where any person “sells any food after the date shown in a ‘use by’ date relating to it”. Torfaen alleged that Willis had sold frozen pigs’ tongues after their ‘use by’ date.

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