Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, The University of Reading

Food Labelling in the UK: A Guide to the Legal Requirements .............. Home Page

Additional mandatory requirements
Alcoholic strength

Country of origin / place of provenance

Definitions

The following are key terms used in the Regulation which are used to determine labelling requirements:

The term 'Country of Origin' is determined by cross-reference to the controls on customs tariffs. (These have been updated since Regulation 1169/2011 was published and the new reference is given here).

For the purposes of this Regulation the country of origin of a food shall refer to the origin of a food as determined in accordance with [Article 60 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013].

Article 2(3)

 

1. Goods wholly obtained in a single country or territory shall be regarded as having their origin in that country or territory.

2. Goods the production of which involves more than one country or territory shall be deemed to originate in the country or territory where they underwent their last, substantial, economically-justified processing or working, in an undertaking equipped for that purpose, resulting in the manufacture of a new product or representing an important stage of manufacture.

Article 60 of Regulation 952/2013

The term 'place of provenance' is defined in Regulation 1169/2011 as follows:

place of provenance’ means any place where a food is indicated to come from, and that is not the ‘country of origin’ as determined in accordance with [Article 60 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013]; the name, business name or address of the food business operator on the label shall not constitute an indication of the country of origin or place of provenance of food within the meaning of this Regulation.

Article 2(2)(g)

Another term used in the requirements given below is 'primary ingredient'. This is also defined:

primary ingredient’ means an ingredient or ingredients of a food that represent more than 50 % of that food or which are usually associated with the name of the food by the consumer and for which in most cases a quantitative indication is required;

Article 2(2)(q)

Requirement (Article 26)

Indication of the country of origin or place of provenance shall be mandatory:

(a) where failure to indicate this might mislead the consumer as to the true country of origin or place of provenance of the food, in particular if the information accompanying the food or the label as a whole would otherwise imply that the food has a different country of origin or place of provenance;

(b) for the following meats

Subject to the adoption of implementing measures, the following shall also apply:

Where the country of origin or the place of provenance of a food is given and where it is not the same as that of its primary ingredient (see definition above):

Additional details

The Commission has adopted two supporting Regulations which provide additional details on the manner of marking.

Fresh, chilled and frozen meat of swine, sheep, goats and poultry:

Primary Ingredient:

The country of origin or the place of provenance of a primary ingredient which is not the same as the given country of origin or the given place of provenance of the food shall be given:

(a) with reference to one of the following geographical areas:

(i) ‘UK’, ‘non-UK’ or ‘UK and non-UK’; or

(ii) Region, or any other geographical area in more than one country, if defined as such under public international law or well understood by normally informed average consumers; or

(iii) FAO Fishing area, or sea or freshwater body if defined as such under international law or well understood by normally informed average consumers; or

(iv) the name of the relevant country(ies); or

(v) Region, or any other geographical area within a country, which is well understood by normally informed average consumers; or

(vi) The country of origin or place of provenance in accordance with specific provisions in legislation which form part of retained EU law applicable for the primary ingredient(s) as such;

(b) or by means of a statement as follows:

‘(name of the primary ingredient) do/does not originate from (the country of origin or the place of provenance of the food)’ or any similar wording likely to have the same meaning for the consumer.

Article 2 of Regulation 2018/775 (as amended for UK)

Note: For UK purposes, the following definitions have been added:

  • country’, in relation to the United Kingdom, means the United Kingdom as a whole and does not mean any of the individual constituent nations forming part of the United Kingdom;
  • retained EU law’ has the meaning given in section 6(7) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 but does not include any legislation so far as it extends to Northern Ireland.”

Guidance

The interpretation of these requirements can be complex. To help understand the requirements, some additional guidance has been provided. However these relate to the application of the rules within the EU. NOTE: Both of the following documents need to be interpreted taking into account the amended requirements for the UK. Useful UK guidance has not been produced. See:

Example

Country of origin labelling

 

Alcoholic strength

 

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