New EU labelling requirements proposed

The European Commission published its proposal to revise the EU’s general food-labelling requirements recently. While the proposal mainly consolidates existing requirements scattered over different directives, a number of important new requirements are being introduced. They include the mandatory declaration of nutritional information on the front label of prepackaged foods, a minimum font size of 3mm for printing mandatory information and an ingredients list on the labels of flavoured alcoholic beverages. The proposed rules apply to all foods and beverages, including imported products intended for the end-consumer. – Staff Reporter The 95-page proposal can be downloaded from the European Commission’s website at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0040:FIN:EN:PDF.