New rules on country of origin and place of provenance for primary ingredients

Since 1 April 2020, the transitional period has ended: all foodstuffs bearing an indication of country of origin or place of provenance must comply with these rules.
Please note that these rules only apply if you state a country of origin or place of provenance on your packaging.

Where the country of origin or place of provenance of the primary ingredient is not the same as that of the foodstuff, this must be indicated on the packaging.

What exactly is a primary ingredient?

A primary ingredient is an ingredient of a foodstuff that makes up more than 50% of that foodstuff, or that is usually associated by the consumer with the name of the foodstuff, and for which a quantitative ingredient declaration (QUID) is required in most cases.

Indicating origin/provenance

Two options are available for indicating the primary ingredient.

Option 1

Refer to one of the following geographical areas from which the primary ingredient originates:

• 'EU', 'non-EU', 'EU and non-EU'
• Region known to the consumer
• FAO fishing area for fishery products
• Country

Option 2

Use the following statement:

'(name of the primary ingredient(s)) does/do not originate from (the country of origin or place of provenance of the foodstuff)' or a similar wording that is clear to the consumer.

Rules for presenting this statement

This new regulation also includes some rules on how this statement must be presented:
1) State it in the x-height defined in Regulation 1169/2011: 1.2mm (or 0.9mm for small packaging).
2) State it in the same field of vision as the country of origin or place of provenance of the foodstuff.
3) The above rules also apply where the country of origin or place of provenance is shown using an image, for example a national flag of the country of origin used in the labelling.
 

Questions or uncertainties? Contact our AMNorman labelling experts, they will be happy to help.

Read our whitepaper on this topic too!