The European Commission has created a new food labelling information system which provides a “user-friendly” IT solution for food businesses.
The system is aimed at enabling food businesses to select a food and automatically retrieve the mandatory EU labelling indications that should appear on their products.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has said that the new labelling information system will cover 87 food categories overall.
The new system will, it is planned, also contribute to the provision of clear information to consumers and help them to make “informed food choices”.
The system also provides links to the relevant legal provisions and existing guidance documents.
The tool is available through the European Commission website, under the food safety and quality section.
However, the system does not take account of labelling that is mandatory under national legislation. Only EU legislation is accounted for.
Beef eating quality
In other agri-food related news, Teagasc has reportedly published the world’s first set of beef tenderness biomarkers and major molecular signatures, following scientific analysis.
According to Teagasc, the study aimed to identify molecular signatures of beef meat tenderness, which in turn would lead to optimisation of management systems for “guaranteed quality”.
Teagasc said that the data gathered demonstrated how the protein dynamics across the different metabolic pathways are associated with the development of tenderness early post-mortem and during the aging process.
The shortlisted protein biomarkers will aid carcass management systems in delivering consistency in beef tenderness, the agency noted.