There’s just a few days to go until significant changes to the way the food service industry displays product information come into force, and still there’s work to be done to ensure everybody in the supply chain is up to speed with the raft of new regulations.
To summarise for anyone still not certain on what exactly European Union Regulation EU No 1169/2011 involves, from Saturday 13 December 2014, a number of changes to the way products are packaged and labelled will be enforced. This includes an obligation for all establishments that serve food to make nutritional and allergen information about the food and drink they serve readily available to customers.
This updated legislation will affect all areas of the foodservice industry, but in my dealings with a number of businesses throughout the supply chain, the response has been staggeringly sluggish. Many have been slow to react, or even worse totally ignorant of the ramifications of the regulations.
The message that needs to be heeded by businesses throughout the sector is that, despite the looming deadline, it’s not too late to take action.
We all need to pool resources and share data as soon as possible to make the necessary product information available, and then look at ways to allow restaurants and caterers to access that data.
To some extent there has been a degree of co-operation to prepare for the changes already, with many of the small and medium suppliers recognising that making their product specifications readily available is of great benefit to their customers. Sadly though, that’s not the case across the board, and more definitely needs to be done, in particular from some of the bigger brand names.
We recently appealed to manufacturers to supply their product information for inclusion in the Erudus One system, a data pool that collates all of the required product information. Data pools are a vital resource to businesses looking to adapt to the incoming changes, providing the full range of information required in one convenient location. A technical guide has also been made available on the FSA website to help all manner of businesses react to the change in regulations.
The best thing for all parties though, is if all the links in the food service supply chain work together to ease the transition for everyone. Suppliers need to step up and make the information their customers need readily available, while wholesalers and cash and carries must also do their bit to help the catering industry implement their changes.
It’s in the interests of everyone in the foodservice sector to make this information available as soon as possible. The change in legislation may almost be upon us, but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t all be working together to make the transition as painless as possible.
Manik Defoe, Erudus administrator for Fairway Foodservice. This is a personal blog and the views expressed are his own.
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