The European Commission’s European Green Deal sets out how to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The ‘farm to fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system’ is part of the European Green Deal, recognising the inextricable links between healthy people, healthy societies and a healthy planet. In terms of food labelling, the provision of clear information that makes it easier for consumers to choose healthy and sustainable diets aims to benefit their health and quality of life and reduce health-related costs.
As part of the farm to fork strategy, the European Commission will take a number of actions including the following:
- a proposal for introducing a harmonised mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling
- the setting of ‘nutrient profiles’ to restrict promotion (via nutrition and health claims on food labels) of foods which are high in fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt, which has already been set out in Regulation (EC) 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods.
- consider proposing the extension of mandatory origin or provenance indications to certain products
- revise the current EU rules on date marking (‘use-by’ and ‘best before’) to reduce food waste
The European Commission published an inception impact assessment to follow-up on these announcements as part of the revision of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers. Its aim was to inform citizens and stakeholders about the European Commission’s plans and it provided an opportunity for feedback on the intended initiatives and allows for effective participation in future consultation activities.