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Meat Products: Origin Marking

Answer

The UK aims to maintain high standards on the information that is provided on food labels. All food sold on the UK market, including that which is imported, must comply with UK food labelling rules. The fundamental principle of our food labelling rules is that information provided to the consumer must not mislead and must enable the safe use of food.

Food that is not classed as UK origin cannot be sold or labelled as being British. Processed foods and composite foods manufactured in the UK are British products, many of which are well known British brands abroad. But if these contain a primary ingredient that is not British then under existing rules a British claim can only be made on the label if the label also highlights that the primary ingredient is not British. Food simply re-packaged in the UK, without any further processing, does not confer UK origin on it.

Major retailers go further than the regulations by having already committed in the 2010 ‘Voluntary Principles on country-of-origin labelling’ to only include Union flags or imagery on products containing meat or dairy products (milk, cream, cheese, butter) when the meat or milk is sourced from the UK.

The Government has no current plans to bring forward legislative proposals in this area.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

8945

Session

2026-27

Subjects

Meat products Origin marking

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk