German proposal for loose ingredients labels unpopular
the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture,
has created a considerable turbulence in the German food industry
where the plan is regarded as bad for business and impractical,
writes Petra Klein for the German food retailing publication
Lebensmittel Zeitung.
Retailers claim that Renate Künast, the German minister for consumer protection, has moved too fast and that the deadline of only one month to make a statement was far too short.
Künast is attempting to introduce a labelling law for loose produce that exceeds that called for by the EU Commission, which applies not only to every single ingredient of the food item but also to all allergenic ingredients.
HDE, the German Retailers' Association, believe that the planned regulations for the labelling of ingredients leads neither to improved information for the consumer, nor can it be used correctly.
It is simply impossible for grocery retailers to label all the loose products they sell - cheese, charcuterie, bakery products or delicatessen items - claims the association, calculating that the implementation of the labelling rules would put an additional burden on the retailers in terms of cost.
And retailers claim that if the rules are introduced it will mark the end of the fresh food service counter.
If Kunast's plans are implemented then every slight change would have to be noted, and the amount of work would be burdensome, they say. "The result would be that retailers would either severely limit the number of lines they have on offer or cease to offer them altogether," said HDE's managing director Holger Wenzel.
Supermarket operators such as Edeka are working hard "to get the ordinance shelved. It is one of our top priorities," said company spokeswoman Marlies Kalthoff.
She does, however, see the point of labelling the food for possibly allergenic ingredients, and the HDE has signalled its willingness to make concessions.
"It would make sense" to label food items that contain potentially allergenic ingredients. If this were to be done the retailer would have to rely on the information provided by the manufacturer. The retail industry categorically refutes the idea of having to carry out its own control checks.
The Association for Food Law and Information (Bund für Lebensmittelrecht und Lebensmittelkunde - BLL) wants the general labelling regulations for ingredients to be cancelled, to be replaced by only the labelling of potentially allergenic ingredients.
