The last part of the Food Information to Consumer regulations comes in to force next week and we outline what it covers...
What are the latest changes?
It will be a mandatory requirement to state the country of origin or place of provenance for unprocessed fresh, chilled and frozen meat of swine, sheep, goats and poultry. It will be a mandatory requirement to state, on the label, in which country (or countries) an animal was reared and slaughtered.
The rearing periods differ by species and are defined as follows:
Swine:
- in case where the animal is slaughtered is older than six months, the last rearing period of at least four months or,
- in case the animal is slaughtered younger than six months, and with a live weight of at least 80 kgs., the rearing period after the animal has reached a live weight of 30 kilograms, but
- in case the animal is slaughtered younger than six months, the whole rearing period if the animal is slaughtered with a live weight of less than 80 kilograms,
Sheep and goats :
The last rearing period of at least six months or the whole rearing period in case the animal is slaughtered younger than six months.
Poultry:
The last rearing period of at least one month or the whole rearing period after being placed for fattening in case the animal is slaughtered younger than one month;
The Term Origin - Defined
- If the term ORIGIN is to be used, then all three stages of production, i.e. born, reared and slaughtered must be within one country
- The NFU believe that the use of a flag denotes the ORIGIN of the animal, and therefore the meat would have to meet the same requirements as the use of the term ORIGIN.
Exemptions to these requirements
Where meat is sold directly to the consumer or mass caterer without packaging, or is packaged at the request of the consumer (this is likely to include raw meat wrapped at a butchers), country of origin information is not mandatory. However, where any information is provided voluntarily, the information must not mislead the consumer.
Mincemeat is also exempt from the mandatory requirements at member state level, a derogation means it is mandatory to state only if the mincemeat is of EU or non EU origin.
The use of other more visible marketing terms such as 'British', or flags for example will be voluntary
Further information
Further information relating to other parts of The Food Information to Consumers regulations, already implemented, can be found by clicking here.
If you have any queries, then please do contact Call first on - 0370 845 8458.