In plans unveiled by shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins, the Conservatives have vowed to introduce tighter restrictions on the usage of the Union Flag and ‘Made in the UK’ labelling on food packaging.
The move would be intended to give British consumers greater clarity about the origins of the food they buy, with the Tories claiming that current labelling rules are misleading.
Under the present rules, food products can display a Union Flag or ‘Made in the UK’ label even if key ingredients are sourced overseas. The product only needs to be packaged or processed in the UK for origin to be implied.
Tory plans would see this threshold raised significantly, with the opposition party proposing that single-ingredient products such as meat, eggs, dairy and fresh produce be entirely born, raised, grown, slaughtered and processed in the UK before such labelling can be displayed.
For multi-ingredient products, the Conservatives have said that they will “consult” the sector on a requirement for 90% of ingredients to be UK-sourced before national flags or ‘made in’ claims can be displayed.
“We should all eat British food whenever we can. When customers choose a product either flying the Union Jack flag or claiming, ‘Made in Britain’, it should mean exactly that,” Atkins said.
“Currently, food grown overseas yet merely assembled or packaged here can fly the flag or be described as ‘British’. The Conservatives will close the flag loophole and make food origin labelling clearer so that consumers can be sure that they’re buying British food which is actually grown and produced in our country.”
She continued: “British farmers and food producers are crucial to our nation’s food security, feeding the nation with high-standard produce. Making origin labelling clearer and simpler will encourage us all to eat more British-made food.”
If the party was to regain power at the next general election, it has said that it would allow a transition period of two years for businesses to adapt packaging within existing redesign cycles in order to “limit costs and avoid unnecessary waste”.
