Country of Origin Labelling
The European Union wide Beef Labelling Regulation ( EC Regulation No 1760/2000) established a system for the labelling of fresh, chilled and frozen beef and veal. The Regulation does not apply to processed beef (e.g. corned beef) and products containing beef (e.g. pies). The labelling information required by the Regulations must be provided by everyone in the supply chain down to retail level including abattoirs, cutting plants, wholesalers and retailers.
The Regulations do not, however, require the food service sector to actively inform customers of the country of origin of beef with customers not always being aware that the information may be available on request from the establishment.
The Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (SI 2006/1499) require country of origin information to be provided about any food if its absence would be misleading. In other words for many products country of origin information does not have to be provided. In addition, at the discretion of Member States, exemption from some parts of the Regulations is allowable. In the United Kingdom this exemption applies to the food service sector in relation to non pre-packed food or food pre-packed on the premises.
In 2005 The Scottish Government proposed a change to ensure that the Scottish consumer was informed and avoid possible confusion over the labelling of beef in the food service sector. The proposal was not designed to encourage or discourage the sale of beef from any particular countries or to affect the overall level of consumption of beef, nor was the proposal prompted by any health or food safety issues. There are already systems in place to deal with them. The 2005 consultation paper related only to beef because there was already an European Union wide system for the identification and registration of cattle and for the labelling of beef and beef products.
The responses to the 2005 consultation can be found here.
The Scottish Government reflected further on the outcome of the 2005 consultation and proposed that origin labelling for beef in the food service sector be introduced. The Scottish Government published a further consultation on Country of Origin Labelling on 30 March 2007.
The responses to the 2007 consultation were published in June 2007 .
If you require any further information on country of origin labelling please email us at CountryofOrigin@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or telephone 0131 244 6223.