New guidelines on food labelling have been issued by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), which it says will help ensure consumers are not misled by the use of marketing terms on foods.

The guidance follows a public consultation carried out by a working group and they outline the general legal requirements that food businesses must follow when using marketing terms on food and additionally, provides agreed guidance for the food industry concerning the use of the following specific marketing terms to describe foods placed on the Irish market:

It says that food businesses should aim to ensure marketing terms used on foods are compliant with relevant legislation and information contained in the guidance as soon as possible.

However, as a minimum, the information in this guidance applies to the labels of foods placed on the market and/or presented and advertised after December 2016.

According to Dr Wayne Anderson, Director of Food Science and Standards, FSAI, the new guidance goes a long way to ensuring that food marketing terms are not used incorrectly to mislead consumers.

“Marketing terms are designed to resonate with consumers and are an essential part of business development in the food industry. However, they have the potential to mislead when used incorrectly.”