| Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, The University of Reading
Food Labelling in the UK - A supporting material page |
The first example below shows the ingredients listing from a tub of Strawberry ice cream. Ingredients derived from substances on the specified list must be given emphasis by the use of a distinctive font. In this case, several items are shown in bold (Milk and Egg) as these are specified allergenic/intolerance ingredients. It is worth noting that in the case of the clotted cream and the whipping cream the label makes it clear that these ingredients are derived from milk by placing the word 'milk' in brackets after the ingredient name. This meets the requirement that the list must have 'a clear reference to the name of the substance or product as listed in Annex II'.
Below the ingredients list is an allergen warning statement. This would previously have provided a specific list of the allergens but now it is recommended that this simply refers consumers to the emphasised items in the ingredients list.
This second example is from a pack containing a single ingredient food, Couscous. However couscous comes from wheat. Although 'couscous' is an acceptable name for the food, it does not indicate that it is derived from wheat. In this case, the pack has an ingredients list with the single item 'couscous' but the presence of wheat is them made clear in brackets using a bold font, '(wheat)':
The third example shows a slight variation in the use of font. This is the ingredients list from a packet of Powdered coffee drink. In this case, as well as using bold, the specified substances are shown using capital letters, 'Skimmed MILK powder' and 'LACTOSE'. Notice that in this label 'Lactose' does not make reference to its milk origin. Lactose is mentioned in the listing in Annex II as a component of milk. Current UK guidance however suggest that the label should make reference to milk as the origin of the lactose:
The final example shows another alternative font to highlight the allergens. In this case, for an Apricot jam with almonds, the manufacturer has chosen to use underlining as the means of emphasis. All the references to Almonds have been underlined::
For the main index page for this site, go to Food Labelling in the UK: A Guide to the Legal Requirements