Printed film company TCL Packaging has said that some food manufacturers and packers are leaving it late to comply with the new EU food information regulations (FIR).
The new EU regulations coming into force on 13 December this year changes existing legislation on food labelling including;
• Mandatory nutrition information on processed foods
• Mandatory origin labelling of unprocessed meat from pigs, sheep, goats and poultry
• Highlighting allergens e.g peanuts or milk in the list of ingredients
• Better legibility i.e minimum size of text
• Requirements on information on allergens also cover non pre-packed foods including those sold in restaurants and cafés.
The company has recently installed a third printing press to meet demand and managing director, Mike Golding, said, ‘We are working 24/7 to ensure customers can meet the deadline.’
Mr Golding blames confusion around the many consultations that have led some companies to wait. The company also says concerns about the perceived cost of change have been cited.
‘With flexible packaging though, cost is not an issue if you plan properly. We’re finding that many forward-thinking brands are also changing to the front of pack nutrition labelling at the same time, even though this doesn’t come into force until 2016.
‘In fact, 85% of designs we produce will continue to use the same number of colours and just require one or two new plates to achieve all the new labelling. In some cases, changes have been cost neutral as part of a scheduled redesign programme,’ said Mr Golding.
