On April 1, 2020, the new EU food labeling requirements came into force. The State Food and Veterinary Service of Lithuania (VMVT) informed about them, as agroportal.ua reports with reference to DairyNews.ru.
The innovation concerns, in particular, information about the raw materials used for the production of the product. It must now be necessarily indicated on the packaging if it was not produced in the country where the entire product was produced.
So, if the country or place of food production differs from the place of origin of the main ingredients, now it is necessary to indicate the origin of the main ingredient, and if there are several such ingredients, then the origin of each of them.
“The main component of a product is considered to be the part that makes up more than 50% of the total weight of the product. For example, the main ingredient in strawberry jam is strawberry, grain flour in baked goods and bread, popsicles in popsicles, and pork in pork products. If, for example, strawberry jam is declared a product produced in Lithuania, but the strawberry used for production is grown and brought from another country, such as Poland, then this must be additionally indicated, ”the department explains.
Previously, before the adoption of the new norm, information on the origin of raw materials had to be indicated only for a limited number of products (beef, poultry, pork, lamb, goat meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, olive oil, honey, wine).
Products with the old label will be phased out from the market, but for now they will be sold legally.
Recall that earlier we talked about which among European countries eats the worst of all, as well as about the new rules for fast food that are being introduced in the EU.