Rural Affairs Secretary does not support ‘Not for EU’ food
labelling proposals.
Concerns about “arbitrarily adding costs to businesses” at a time
when consumers are already facing a cost of living crisis have
been raised by Rural Affairs Secretary .
The UK Government has proposed a roll out of ‘not for EU’
labelling on food and drink products across the whole of the UK
from October, despite the fact that food labelling is a devolved
matter.
The Food and Drink Federation Scotland has called for a
proportionate alternative and Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs
has sought further
clarification from the UK Government given “the information that
has been provided to us so far is limited and does not currently
represent a convincing argument or provide any real evidence… why
this blanket measure is considered a proportionate approach.”
In a letter to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs , Ms Gougeon said:
“As labelling is a wholly devolved matter, the policy decision on
whether to place this additional burden on Scottish businesses
should rest with the Scottish Ministers.
“On the face of it, your proposals would impact a large number of
businesses in Scotland who do not sell goods to Northern Ireland
but would be required to change their labelling, or who sell into
Europe and would be required to set up separate labelling
streams.
“I do not support this GB-wide labelling proposal as it stands,
and I am not persuaded on the information provided so far that
there is a case to introduce it in Scotland. I look forward to
meeting with you and discussing this issue in due course.”
Background
GB-wide labelling
proposal: letter to UK Government
