Friends of Europe policymakers’ debate on food labeling

July 20th, 2012

On Tuesday 27 April, Friends of Europe – in association with Choices International Foundation – held a policymakers’ debate to address the question: ‘Where is Europe’s food labeling debate going next?’ The debate, set against the backdrop of the European Parliament’s plenary vote in June 2010 on mandatory nutrition labelling, was moderated by Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe. Participants included Basil Mathioudakis (Head of Unit for Food Law, Nutrition and Labelling at DG SANCO), Renate Sommer (MEP Provision of Food Information to Consumers) and Jup van ‘t Veld (Secretary General of the Choices International Foundation). In the context of heated debates on labelling and nutrition profiling, the limitations of consumer information and the importance of food reformulation were discussed. The role of science was generally believed to be crucial, although some signalled a lack of data on consumer perception. Opinions varied on how much sense it makes to “educate” consumers via the label or to push industry towards reformulation.