The current status of nutrition labelling in the United Kingdom

During the past 10 years there has been considerable discussion about nutrition labelling of foodstuffs. In the United Kingdom, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has published several proposals for guidelines and regulations. The European Community has more recently considered this subject and has issued their proposals for draft directives. There is now considerable agreement between the UK guidelines on nutrition labelling published in 1987 and EC proposals which are under discussion. Compulsory nutrition labelling is unlikely in the immediate future, except when a nutrition claim is made, when labelling is to be compulsory and must conform to one of several specified formats. In contrast, many consumer groups believe that nutrition labelling should be compulsory for all packaged foods. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food intends to control nutrition claims, such as claims of 'high' or 'low' levels of various nutrients, and definitions of these nutrient levels have been proposed for discussion. Whether to label foods according to 'total' or 'added' sugars content, or both, is also under discussion.