Food Law News - UK - 2009


FSA Consultation Letter, 6 July 2009

LABELLING - Draft SI on the Food Labelling (Declaration of Allergens) (England) Regulations 2009

A copy of the consultation letter and attachments are available on this site. See: Allergen Labelling - Consultation Documents

Consultation on the draft Statutory Instrument (SI) on the Food Labelling (Declaration of Allergens) (England) Regulations 2009 and revised Guidance on Allergen and Miscellaneous Labelling Provisions. Responses are requested by: 31 July 2009

Introduction

In 2008 there was a package of changes to allergen labelling legislation that meant that the temporary exemption from the allergen labelling provisions for a number of ingredients derived from the listed allergenic foods, including wine fining agents produced from egg and milk, expired with effect from 31 May 2009. This was enacted in England, and other devolved administrations, by the Food Labelling (Declaration of Allergens) Regulations 2008.

There has been a subsequent legal change by the Commission that further extends from 31 May 2009 until December 2010 the temporary exemptions from the labelling provisions for egg- and milk-based fining agents used in wine.

This means that under current UK legislation we have the anomalous situation where enforcement officers have the powers to take action against products where the use of these wine fining agents has not been labelled but, under the Commission Regulation (EC) No 415/2009, producers are now not required to declare these ingredients on the label.

Proposals

The Food Labelling (Declaration of Allergens) (England) Regulations 2009 will resolve this anomaly and ensure clarity for food businesses and enforcement bodies.

Key proposal:

To provide an extension until December 2010 of the temporary exemption from labelling for egg albumin as a fining agent for wine and lysozym (produced from egg) used in wine and for milk (casein) used as a fining agent for wine.

Consultation Process

The Food Allergy Branch has kept the relevant stakeholders informed about the progress of this Regulation and earlier this year conducted an informal consultation to seek views when the Regulation was discussed at the European Commission.

Questions asked in this consultation:

Other relevant documents

Responses

Responses are required by close 31 July 2009. Please state in your response whether you are responding as a private individual or on behalf of an organisation/company (including details of any stakeholders your organisation represents).


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