NUTRITION LABELING AND THE UNITED-KINGDOM

Nutrition labelling is different from the nutrition claims that are often made on food labels. Claims are designed to sell the product, and in the UK overenthusiasm is controlled by the Food Act (now the Food Safety Act) which contains provisions on misleading claims and by Food Labelling Regulations which only allow claims for eight vitamins and three minerals. In addition, the Government is encouraging manufactures and caterers to show the major nutrients in their products in a standard format, to help consumers choose sensible diets. Such nutrition labelling has now been harmonised throughout the European Community. This paper summarises the development of guidelines and regulations for ensuring that consumers in this country are given a balanced picture of the food in a standard format that will enable them to compare products more easily.