External Influences 3: Food Labelling

Is it Real?

Image: Is this glass of orange juice really all that it seems? How do you know it hasn't had sugars or water added? Copyright: Adam Ciesielski, stock.xchng

When you buy chocolate, how do you know that is what it really is? How do you know cod fillet fish fingers really contain cod and not other fish? How do you know orange juice hasn't had sugars or water added?

Types of Misdescription

Not having the necessary composition for a legal name: in order to be called 'chocolate', for example, the food must have a certain amount of cocoa solids. Similarly, in order to be called a 'sausage' it must have a certain amount of meat in it.
Substitution with cheaper ingredients: adding low cost ingredients to a more expensive product, e.g. diluting olive oil with vegetable oils.
Extending a food: perhaps with water or other fillers, e.g. adding water to orange juice, or offal to meat products, and not declaring it.
Incorrect origin: incorrectly labelling the true origin of the food or ingredients in terms of
- animal species - misdescribing the meat species in a product or not declaring other meat present
- plant variety - adding cheaper varieties to a premium rice such as Basmati
- geographical origin or country - giving the incorrect country or floral origin of a honey or region for a wine
- incorrect or failure to describe a process or treatment - not declaring if food has been irradiated (the use of radiation - normally gamma rays - to kill bacteria and improve the shelf life of food) or previously frozen, or the use of mechanically recovered meat (MRM)
Incorrect quantitative declaration - giving the wrong amount of an ingredient, e.g. declaring the wrong amount of meat in a burger

Source: Food Standards Agency(http://www.food.gov.uk/foodlabelling/ull/) (Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.)

The Food Labelling Regulations 1996

Image: Foods such as this packaged beef need to be labelled with specific information. Copyright: Alex Ling, stock.xchng

This requires food to be marked and labelled with certain requirements such as:

the name of the food
a list of ingredients
the amount of an ingredient which is named or associated with the food
an appropriate durability indication
any special storage conditions
the name of business and manufacturer and in certain cases
the place of origin
the process used in manufacture
instructions for use

Source: Food Standards Agency(http://www.food.gov.uk/foodlabelling/ull/) (Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.)

The Food Standards Agency is an independent body set up by the government in 2000 to monitor the food industry and to advise on public health issues. It was set up, partly in response to the growing concern about food production, following the outbreak of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and a number of other so-called food scares. It is a good example of how governments respond to concerns within society and how changing social attitudes impact on businesses.

Task

You are the production manager for a firm involved in the production of a range of convenience foods based in Northampton. Your product range consists of the following:

Pastries - Cornish pasties, sausage rolls, cheese and onion pasties, steak and kidney pies and so on.
Sandwiches - produced every day from your main factory for a major supermarket chain.
Desserts - a range of milk-based convenience desserts, including chocolate mousses and fruit smoothies.

Your current profit margins are slim; turnover is £60 million per year; operating costs are £45 million, with profits stable at an average of £4 million for the past three years. The industry is highly competitive although it has a four firm concentration ratio of 82%. Market research has raised growing concerns amongst customers about the quality of convenience foods.

Prepare a report for the Board of Directors of 750 words outlining the impact of government legislation regarding food labelling - including EU wide directives - on the future of the business with regard to your sphere of operation. Refer where necessary to appropriate legislation.