NFU Praises Retailers' Honest Food Labelling Move
Equipment & innovation Government and regulatory Labelling and traceability
UK - The National Farmers Union (NFU) is pleased that Tesco and Morrison's have signed up to the Conservative Party's 'Honest Food' campaign, which is aimed at letting consumers know where the food they are buying is reared and sourced.
Currently country of origin labelling law covers where the food is manufactured, meaning the place where the last substantial change is made to a product, and on most foods labelling is only required if it would be misleading not to. However, the Honest Food campaign wants to see new rules, which are in line with NFU lobbying, to see all fresh and processed meats as well as dairy products given country of origin labels. Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer have also added their support.
NFU director of policy Martin Haworth said, "Backing from Tesco for the Honest Food campaign is good news. The NFU would like to see all major retailers supporting this campaign to give their consumers the most accurate information about where their food comes from, and to stop misleading practices.
"We hope the new EU legislation on food labelling is used to make the country of origin labelling clearer so that consumers can make more informed choices when they shop. However, the new legislation will take years to come into effect so if the UK can move towards voluntarily labelling for country of origin this will allay our - and consumers' - concerns. We look forward to seeing more evidence of retailer support for country of origin labelling on supermarket shelves."
The NFU supports the Red Tractor logo which signifies to consumers which products have been grown and reared to independently inspected, quality assurance standards with the Union Flag in the logo denoting products that have been farmed, processed and packed in the UK, from field to fork.