The Food Information to Consumers (FIC) Regulation

Regulation (EC) No. 1169/2011 or the Food Information to Consumers (FIC) Regulation sets the requirements for the information provided on food labelling. This Regulation provides for a high level of consumer protection, ensuring consumers are not misled and supporting them to make informed choices about the food they eat.

In Ireland, the Department of Health has policy and legislative responsibility for the FIC Regulation. The Regulation is enforced by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and its official agencies.

In Q4 of 2022, the European Commission intends to revise the FIC Regulation. Under the Farm to Fork Strategy, the Commission proposes

• The introduction of a harmonised mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme;
• The setting of nutrient profiles to restrict the use of health and nutrition claims to promote foods products which are high in fat, sugar and salt;
• An extension of mandatory origin or provenance indications to certain products (taking into consideration the impact on the Single Market); and
• A revision of the EU rules on date marking (‘use by’ and ‘best before’).

Under Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the European Commission proposes to remove the current exemption within the FIC Regulation so that alcoholic beverages will be required to include a list of ingredients and nutrition declaration on their packaging, in the same manner as is currently required for other food products.

The Irish Government is developing a policy position on the European Commission’s food labelling package. This is being developed by a cross Government group headed by Department of Health working closely with the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, as well as relevant agencies under the remit of all four Departments.

In Q1 2021, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland hosted a public consultation on behalf of the Department of Health calling for views and feedback on these proposals to revise the FIC Regulation. The report compiled on the submissions to that consultation is available online.

On 12 May 2022, a virtual stakeholder event was held to gather views from a cross section of stakeholders, on the European Commission’s proposals on the revision of the FIC Regulation.

Stakeholders were invited from health interest groups, environmental groups, consumer interest groups, agricultural trade representatives, food and primary production sectors and retail sectors. Stakeholders actively engaged on the various aspects of the revision package and expressed their views on the challenges and opportunities this revision may present for Ireland.

Further information can be found in the below booklet.

Presentations

Video of event