A few years ago, Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers (FIC) brought together EU rules on general food labelling and nutrition labelling into one piece of legislation. The Food Information (Scotland) Regulations 2014 revoked most of the old Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (as amended) and enable local authorities in Scotland to enforce the requirements of FIC. The majority of the requirements of the new legislation came into force on 13 December 2014 with back of pack nutrition labelling becoming mandatory on most prepacked foods from 13 December 2016.
Technical Guidance is available to help businesses meet the nutrition labelling requirements of FIC.[1] A Q&A Guidance document has also been produced by Food Standards Scotland and the Food Standards Agency to help with interpretation of the nutrition declaration requirements which has been attached below for your interest.
Prepacked foodstuffs which are exempt from the mandatory nutrition declaration are listed in Annex V of FIC, which I have copied at the end of this letter for convenience. Exemptions relate mainly to minimally processed foods and those with little nutritional value.
An exemption is also permitted for food, including handcrafted food, directly supplied by the manufacturer of small quantities of products to the final consumer or to local retail establishments directly supplying the final consumer.
The European Commission did not give any guidance on the meaning of this exemption and it was left to Member States to provide their own interpretation. Following consultation with enforcement authorities and key stakeholders, Food Standards Scotland has adopted the following interpretations:
How the exemption works
Food from manufacturers meeting the definition of a micro business, supplied directly to the consumer (including internet or other forms of distance sales), need not display nutrition labelling under this exemption.
Food from micro businesses supplied to the consumer via a third party, if this third party is a local retail establishment[3] supplying directly to the consumer, need not display nutrition labelling under this exemption.
If prepacked foods which rely on this exemption are traded across national borders, you will need to check the interpretation in the recipient country.
ANNEX V
Foods Which Are Exempted From The Requirement Of The Mandatory Nutrition Declaration
[3] Article 3(7) of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 defines retails as follows:
“retail means the handling and/or processing of food and its storage at the point of sale or delivery to the final consumer, and includes distribution terminals, catering operations, factory canteens, institutional catering, restaurants and other similar food service operations, shops, supermarket distribution centres and wholesale outlets.”
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