Front of Pack Nutrition Labels (FOPNL) are important to support healthier food and drink choices.
Since 2013, the UK Government and Devolved Administrations have recommended a voluntary ‘traffic light’ FOPNL scheme, which has proven to be popular with both the food and drink industry and shoppers. However, they want to ensure that the scheme that the UK Government and Devolved Administration recommends, continues to be the most helpful when deciding on food and drink purchases.
While the UK was an EU member state, the European Food Information to Consumers Regulation 2011/1169 (EU FIC) established the criteria for the use and form of FOPNL the UK can use and how we can enforce it. However, on 31 December 2020 the transition period will end. After this, the UK Government and Devolved Administrations will seek to build on the success of FOPNL in the UK to improve the current scheme. This consultation will therefore ensure that the UK are in the best position to act quickly to continue to support shoppers to understand what is in the food they are buying.
At this stage, they are not proposing any changes to legislation or policy governing FOPNL in the UK. Instead, they want your views and evidence on the following:
- how they can improve on our current recommended FOPNL scheme
- on new international examples of FOPNL being adopted in other countries
- whether they should be incorporating updated nutrition guidelines on any new FOPNL scheme
To help you answer the questions, it will be helpful for you to read the FOPNL consultation document
This consultation asks for your views and evidence on:
- the UK government’s and devolved administrations’ recommended FOPNL scheme, the ‘multiple traffic light label’
- new international examples, specifically the ‘nutri-score’ label and ‘Chile’s health warning label’ which have gained prominence in recent years
- whether FOPNL should reflect the latest dietary advice on sugar and fibre
Click here for the Consultation in English: Complete the survey in English Closes on Wednesday 21st October 2020
Click here for the Consultation in Welsh: Complete the survey in Welsh Closes on Thursday 5th November 2020
Useful information to download at this link: Building on the success of front-of-pack nutrition labelling in the UK: consultation document