Spelman pledges to improve labelling

In a speech to the Smith Institute yesterday, she said she hoped to ‘make it easier for people’ when making choices about provenance and health values of food products.

She said: “If someone wants to buy Fairtrade or Red Tractor, it’s made easy for them to do so – that information’s on the label.

“Whatever choices consumers want to make about the food they buy for themselves and their families should be made equally easy.

“Low fat, low salt and low sugar labels should mean exactly that and the presence of saturated fats shouldn’t be disguised in language no one but a chemist can understand.

“And if someone wants the quality and animal welfare guarantees that come with British meat and dairy we should make that easy too.”

She said Defra would be working closely with the Department of Health on labelling, adding fuel to speculation earlier this week both Defra and DoH are set to take on some of the Food Standards Agency’s remit.

Speculation has been rife that the FSA is to be split up, with Defra taking on responsibility for issues such as labelling while DoH will take on the portfolio for health and nutrition.

Mrs Spelman’s comments are likely to add to that speculation, with the biggest indication so far that both departments will focus on labelling in the future.

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