UK Food Labelling - Name of food

Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, The University of Reading

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

Key mandatory requirements

List of ingredients

Name of food

The name of the food shall be its legal name. In the absence of such a name, the name of the food shall be its customary name, or, if there is no customary name or the customary name is not used, a descriptive name of the food shall be provided.

Article 17(1)

This requirement must be considered in combination with the definitions provided in the Regulation:

(n) ‘legal name’, in relation to a food, means the name prescribed for it in EUderived domestic legislation or retained direct EU legislation or, in the absence of such legislation, any other enactment;

(o) ‘customary name’ means a name which is accepted as the name of the food by consumers in the United Kingdom in which that food is sold, without that name needing further explanation;

(p) ‘descriptive name’ means a name providing a description of the food, and if necessary of its use, which is sufficiently clear to enable consumers to know its true nature and distinguish it from other products with which it might be confused;

Article 2(2)

If a name prescribed by law exists, a 'legal name', it has to be used, but it may be qualified by other words which make it more precise. Legal names include 'reserved descriptions'. These are names which must be used according to other regulations. Examples include 'burger', 'sausage', 'jam', 'sugar', 'butter', 'skimmed milk' and various species of fish.
If no name prescribed by law exists, a customary name may be used. Customary names are names which, in time, come to be accepted by consumers in the UK, or in particular areas of the UK, as the name of the food without it needing further explanation. Some examples are 'fish fingers' and 'Bakewell tart'. Some names of foreign origin, such as 'muesli' and 'spaghetti' have also become customary names in the UK generally.
If no legal or customary name exists, a descriptive name should be used. According to the definition above, this is a name sufficiently clear to enable the purchaser to know its true nature of the food and to distinguish it from other foods with which it could be confused. If necessary, shall include a description of it's use. Note that customary names may be supplemented by a descriptive name.

Mandatory particulars accompanying the name of the food (Annex VI)

The Regulation requires that, in certain cases, additional words are provided with the name. These are listed in Annex VI:

1. Physical Condition/Treatment: The name of the food shall include or be accompanied by particulars as to the physical condition of the food or the specific treatment which it has undergone (for example, powdered, refrozen, freeze-dried, quick-frozen, concentrated, smoked) in all cases where omission of such information could mislead the purchaser.

2. Frozen and defrosted foods: In the case of foods that have been frozen before sale and which are sold defrosted, the name of the food shall be accompanied by the designation ‘defrosted’. This requirement shall not apply to the following:

(a) ingredients present in the final product;

(b) foods for which freezing is a technologically necessary step of the production process;

(c) foods for which the defrosting has no negative impact on the safety or quality of the food.

3. Irradiated foods: Foods treated with ionising radiation shall bear one of the following indications:‘irradiated’ or ‘treated with ionising radiation’, and other indications as required by other legislation on food irradiation

4. Foods with substituted ingredients: In the case of foods in which a component or ingredient that consumers expect to be normally used or naturally present has been substituted with a different component or ingredient, the labelling shall bear — in addition to the list of ingredients — a clear indication of the component or the ingredient that has been used for the partial or whole substitution:

(a) in close proximity to the name of the product; and

(b) using a font size which has an x-height of at least 75 % of the x-height of the name of the product and which is not smaller than the minimum font size required in Article 13(2) of this Regulation.

5.Meat/fish products with added proteins: In the case of meat products, meat preparations and fishery products containing added proteins as such, including hydrolysed proteins, of a different animal origin, the name of the food shall bear an indication of the presence of those proteins and of their origin.

6. Meat with added water: In the case of meat products and meat preparations which have the appearance of a cut, joint, slice, portion or carcase of meat, the name of the food shall include an indication of the presence of added water if the added water makes up more than 5 % of the weight of the finished product. The same rules shall apply in the case of fishery products and prepared fishery products which have the appearance of a cut, joint, slice, portion, filet or of a whole fishery product.

7. Formed meat/fish products: Meat products, meat preparations and fishery products which may give the impression that they are made of a whole piece of meat or fish, but actually consist of different pieces combined together by other ingredients, including food additives and food enzymes or by other means, shall bear the following indication: ‘formed meat’ and ‘formed fish’;

Examples

Name of the food - examples

List of ingredients

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