FSA revises label advice

Guidance encourages transparent practices

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has revised its food-labelling guidance on use of marketing terms such as "fresh", "home-made" and "farmhouse".

The FSA consulted more than 1,200 stakeholder org-anisations about the guidance it issued in 2002.

FSA head of food labelling Stephen Pugh said: "Marketing terms enable the industry to differentiate products but need to be meaningful to consumers.

"Our guidance suggests conditions for use of certain terms. These reflect consumer understanding and perceptions of the terms."

The guidance assists caterers to decide when to use these descriptions. Adopting the terms will benefit consumers by encouraging consistent, transparent labelling practices.

For example, "home-made" should be "restricted to preparation of the recipe on the premises, from primary ingredients, reflecting a typical domestic situation. This doesn't mean assembled from wholly pre-prepared ingredients and must involve fundamental culinary preparation."

The FSA said: "Although no law relates specifically to terms such as 'home-made', general food law establishes consumers' rights to 'accurate, honest information'."

Traditional

What the guidance says: "Recipes of what might be described as 'traditional' products may change over time

to accommodate consumer demand and expectations. The FSA says it's fine to refer to the traditional nature of the product as long as you don't imply it has been made to a traditional recipe — unless that is the case. For example: "Christmas pudding - a rich, steamed fruit pudding traditionally eaten on Christmas day with custard, brandy butter or cream". 

Hand-made

What the guidance says: "A product endorsed as "hand-made" should be significantly made by hand, rather than just one element of the process being carried out in that way."

Useful alternatives include "hand-carved" or "hand-finished".