EU regulation is intended to provide clarity

Nowadays, supermarket products often consist of ingredients from different origins - the respective origins are often unclear. Information about where a food comes from would create trust. An EU regulation has been in force since April 2020 that was intended to do exactly that and requires manufacturers to indicate where primary ingredients in a processed product come from.

What exactly is a primary ingredient?

A primary ingredient is an ingredient that makes up more than 50 percent of the product or that customers associate with the product. In the case of a salami pizza, not only the origin of the main ingredient, flour, but also the origin of the salami - even if it makes up less than 50 percent of the pizza.

Only for promises of origin

The problem: Only if an origin is promised does the manufacturer have to indicate where the primary ingredients come from. For an Italian salami pizza marked “made in Italy” or an Italian flag, the origins of the primary ingredients must be stated. For a pizza with Italian salami, only the origin of the salami. The amount of supermarket products affected is therefore very small at around 20 percent of all products.

Opaque labeling

Next problem: The origin only needs to be stated very roughly. Phrases such as “from the EU” or “not from the EU” or, as in the example of the Italian pizza, “not from Italy” are sufficient.

Sources:
SWR Market Check
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/775
Commission notice on the application of Article 26 paragraph 3 of Regulation (EU) No. 1169/20112020/C 32/01


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