Albert Innovations in Food Labelling

1. Auflage 2014
ISBN: 978-1-84569-759-4
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Techn.
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 184 Seiten

Reihe: Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition

Increasingly, consumers desire information about the health, safety, environmental and socioeconomic characteristics of food products. These traits often cannot be detected by sight, smell or taste. Therefore, consumers must use food labels to select products that meet their needs and preferences. The growing consumer and industry interest in food labels presents challenges for governments, which must ensure that the product information is accurate, truthful and not misleading to consumers. Governments must decide whether provision of information should be mandatory or voluntary. With the increase in global trade in food, there is a need to harmonize food labels so that product information is understood and relevant to foreign markets.Innovations in food labelling provides information about the principles and requirements of food labelling and reviews the latest trends in this important area. Following an introduction on the evolution of food labelling, further chapters cover the Codex Alimentarius and food labelling, international trade agreements, nutrition labelling, allergies and food labels and environmental and social labels, among other topics.An essential reference for food regulatory agencies, food law experts and professionals in the food industry responsible for labelling as well as consumer and environmental associations with an interest in labelling. - Provides important information about the principles and requirements of food labelling and reviews the trends in this area - Documents label evolution and considers standards and legal issues, as well as protection of the environment and sustainable food production - Features labels for a variety of different markets, including organic foods, and addresses social issues such as association of food quality with location

Autoren/Hrsg.

Albert, J.

Leseproben

2 The Codex Alimentarius and Food Labelling: delivering consumer protection
Alan W. Randell    former Secretary of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Italy Abstract
The Codex General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods and other Codex texts dealing with claims in general and health and nutrition claims in particular are described in a historical context. It is possible to demonstrate a transition from trade-based standards to consumer-based standards and guidelines – a process that is still underway. The main shift is from a strict ‘prevention of fraud’ scenario (1960s) to a scenario of providing consumer information (1990s) and, finally, to a scenario of delivering health policy through labelling. Key words Codex Alimentarius food labelling consumer protection fraudulent claims nutrition health claims ‘organic’ food irradiated food ‘Halal’ food biotechnology allergens diet non-communicable disease 2.1 Introduction
The Codex General Standard for the Labelling of Pre-Packaged Foods was adopted in 1969: the first international standard to be approved by the newly-formed Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC, 1969). The fact that the Standard bears the number “Codex-Stan 1” reflects its central importance as the principal Codex standard for consumer protection and for ensuring fair practices in the food trade. The General Standard was extensively revised and enlarged in 1985 and, since then, numerous amendments and additions have ensured that the Standard remains the key Codex instrument for delivering information about food to the consumer. The General Standard is accompanied by a range of specific texts. All Codex commodity standards provide specific interpretation of the General standard in reference to the ‘Name of the Food’, and two additional standards cover the labelling of foods for special dietary uses and of food additives when they are sold as such to the consumer and there are guidelines on nutrition labelling. Additional interpretation of the Standard is provided by guidelines covering the legitimacy of claims made on food labels: claims in general; health and nutrition claims; and claims concerning production and processing methods associated with ‘organic’ foods and ‘Halal’ foods. Current debate about food labelling in Codex concerns the degree to which labelling should be used an instrument of delivering public policy, in particular nutrition policies related to diet, physical activity and chronic diseases. The question of how to label GM foods remains unsolved. This chapter will review the evolution of food labelling in Codex and the change in emphasis from trade-related standards to consumer-based standards and as an instrument in delivering public health policy. 2.2 The Codex framework for food labelling
The Codex framework for food labelling consists of the General Standard, specific provisions in Codex commodity standards, a series of interpretative guidelines dealing with types of claims, and standards for the labelling of special dietary and special medical foods and for food additives sold as such. A specific standard deals with terms to be used for the labelling of dairy products (see Box 2.1). Box 2.1 Codex texts on food labelling General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods (Codex Stan 1-1985) General Standard for the Labelling of Food Additives when Sold as Such (Codex Stan 107-1981) General Standard for the Labelling of and Claims for Prepackaged Foods for Special Dietary Uses (Codex Stan 146-1985) Codex Standard for the Labelling of and Claims for Foods for Special Medical Purposes (Codex Stan 180-1991) General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms (Codex Stan 206-1999) General Guidelines on Claims (CAC/GL 1-1979) Guidelines for Nutrition Labelling (CAC/GL 2-1985) Guidelines for the Use of Health and Nutrition Claims (CAC/GL 23-1997) General Guidelines for the Use of the Term ‘Halal’ (CAC/GL 24-1997) Guidelines for the Production, Processing, Marketing and Labelling of Organically Produced Foods (CAC/GL 32-1999) The body responsible for the preparation of labelling texts is the Codex Committee on Food Labelling, hosted by the government of Canada since the inception of the Commission’s work in this area. This Committee receives advice from other Codex Committees, most notably the Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses on matters relating to the technical and scientific basis of provisions concerning nutrition and health labelling, and the Codex Committee on Food Additives on issues relating to the names used for food additives. The General Standard applies to all prepackaged foods offered to the consumer and for catering purposes. It is supplemented by individual Codex commodity standards that describe the nature and composition of foodstuffs and specify the name and/or names of the food reserved for use on products that conform to these standards. To a certain extent therefore, all Codex commodity standards are extensions of the General Standard and assist in its interpretation. Exemptions from, or additions to, the General Standard are allowed if they are necessary for interpretation in respect of the product concerned, including the provisions concerning date-marking (CAC, 2008b). In 2002, the combination of the General Standard and the specific Codex Standard for Sardines and Sardine-like Products (Codex Stan 94-1981, Rev.1-1995) was used by the World Trade Organization for the resolution of a dispute under the provisions of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO, 2002). The Committee on Food Labelling reviews and endorses the labelling provisions of all draft standards submitted to the Commission for adoption to ensure consistency with the General Standard. In recent years, there has been a trend towards full harmonization of requirements with those of the General Standard and a reduction in the number of exemptions or special requirements. 2.3 Specific food labelling issues in the Codex general standard
2.3.1 The principles of food labelling
The first substantive section of the General Standard contains the ‘Principles of Food Labelling’ (Box 2.2). These principles have not been modified since the original 1969 standard. They strongly reflect that particular part of the mandate of the Codex Alimentarius Commission aimed at ‘ensuring fair practices in the food trade’ but do not address the other main objective of the Commission, namely protecting the health of consumers. There have been amendments to the General Standard with this latter objective in mind, in particular in relation to the labelling of potential allergens, and current trends, particularly the use of labelling for the promotion of public nutrition policies, are more closely linked to this objective. Box 2.2 The principles of food labelling Prepackaged food shall not be described or presented on any label or in any labelling in a manner that is false, misleading or deceptive or is likely to create an erroneous impression regarding its character in any respect; Prepackaged food shall not be described or presented on any label or in any labelling by words, pictorial or other devices which refer to or are suggestive either directly or indirectly, of any other product with which such food might be confused, or in such a manner as to lead the purchaser or consumer to suppose that the food is connected with such other product. It may also be questioned whether the Codex principles are sufficient to meet the legitimate need of consumers ‘to have access to adequate information to enable them to make informed choices according to individual wishes and need’ as set out in the United Nations Guidelines on Consumer Protection (United Nations, 1985). Various actions taken by the Commission have extended the informational aspect of food labelling, in particular in date-marking and in nutrition labelling, with a view to enabling consumers to make informed choices. 2.3.2 Ingredient labelling
The labelling of food ingredients, especially food additives, has been a feature of the Codex General Standard since its inception, and this is the most detailed section of the Standard. Such labelling has consumer information as its primary objective as it is a general principle that any substance added to food as an additive must have been evaluated and approved for safety in use. However, should a consumer wish to avoid any particular additive, this section of the standard allows such a choice to be made. Ingredient labelling has been the subject of multiple amendments since the adoption of the original standard; all tending towards greater transparency in the information provided to the consumer in particular in the declaration of sub-ingredients in combined foods or mixtures of foods and in the quantitative labelling of certain ingredients (CCFL, 2008a). There are specific requirements for the declaration of potential allergens (see below). 2.3.3 Date-marking
Detailed date-marking provisions were included in the General Standard at the time of its revision in 1985. Prior to this revision, date-marking was considered...