Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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DHSC Publication, 17 September 2021
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DHSC Guidance: Calorie labelling in the out of home sector: implementation guidance The Guidance is published as a web page. A pdf version is available on this site (click on image). Provided uder the Open Government Licence. The original web page was accessed from: |
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DHSC Guidance: Calorie labelling in the out of home sector: Examples The Guidance includes an Annex (in pdf format) providing illustrations of the expected format. A copy of the document is available on this site (click on image). Provided uder the Open Government Licence. The original web page was accessed from: |
Outlines the provisions of The Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021 and provides assistance in understanding and applying them.
The following is the Introduction from the Guidance:
Introduction
The government consulted on calorie labelling for food and drink served outside of the home in 2018. Following this the government has introduced legislation to implement mandatory calorie labelling among large food businesses (businesses with 250 or more employees) in the out of home sector.
The out of home sector is generally considered to be any outlet where food or drink is prepared in a way that means it is ready for immediate consumption, on or off the premises.
The most common types of out of home food businesses include restaurants, cafes and takeaways. However, retail businesses, such as supermarkets, are growing contributors to food sold for consumption on the go.
Food and drink that is prepacked is required to display nutritional information, meaning consumers are familiar with seeing calorie content on the majority of items sold in the retail sector, such as supermarkets and convenience stores.
In contrast, the out of home sector typically sells non-prepacked food and is therefore not required to display nutritional information. This makes it difficult for consumers to make informed, healthier decisions when purchasing food from such businesses.
In addition to helping consumers to make healthier decisions, calorie labelling also aims to encourage businesses to reformulate the food and drink they offer and provide lower calorie options for their customers.
This guidance helps to illustrate how the Regulations mandating calorie labelling in the out of home sector for businesses with 250 or more employees should be implemented. Failure to comply with the Regulations may result in a food business being issued with an improvement notice.
While not subject to this regulatory requirement the government encourages smaller food businesses to also voluntarily adopt calorie labelling, as set out in this guidance document. The government will review the implementation of the Regulations for large businesses within 5 years of the Regulations coming into force and will consider extending the requirement to smaller businesses in the future.
For related earlier news items, see:
