IBEC - Newsroom

Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII), the IBEC group that represents the Irish food sector, today called on MEPs to support the inclusion of Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) as part of new European legislation being developed to harmonise food labelling in Europe. The issue is being debated and voted on in the European Parliament in the coming weeks.

FDII Director Paul Kelly said: "The European Parliament has been supportive of the food industry's efforts to provide consumers with clear nutritional labelling using Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs). It is now essential that GDAs are included as part of new laws to ensure further uptake and consistency across Europe.

"Guideline daily amounts give consumers simple nutritional information on key nutrients such as saturated fat, sugars and salt based on the portion size of the food being eaten. They have been put on packs on a voluntary basis by industry since 2006, but FDII now believes that they should become part of the legislation."

FDII also called on MEPs to reject amendments calling for nutrition labelling using colour-coding.  

"The traffic light system of labelling is a subjective assessment of the nutrient content of 100g of a food and does not provide consumers with the information needed to choose a balanced diet based on their individual needs. The traffic light system fails to take account of portion sizes and does not put the food in the context of the daily diet," said Mr Kelly.

Mr Kelly cautioned that the Irish food industry could be damaged if MEPs include a provision to allow individual Member States implement their own labelling rules.

"It is in the interest of Irish industry that labelling rules are consistent across the EU and, as a significant exporter, the harmonisation of legislation across the single market of 500 million consumers is key," concluded Mr Kelly.