A letter to the Independent following their article today
Sir,
It is indeed scandalous that processed convenience foods or ready meals can mislead the consumer to such an extent that a chicken sandwich, made with chicken from Thailand, can be labelled as 'produced in the UK'. ('Convenience food labelling misleading' Independent 15th January).
Studies show that three quarters of consumers want to be able to see where their food comes from, and there can be nobody who actually wants to be misled by food labelling.
In the European Union, our 'common market' necessitates a shared labelling system for the food and drinks we consume. It clearly does not make sense to have 27 different sets of labelling requirements and common rules actually help reduce red tape and costs to food producers.
We are presently working on new legislation in the European Parliament, where I am responsible for the issue on behalf of the centre-left group of MEPs from the 27 Member States, and I hope our work will result in the provision of clear and accurate information on all the food we buy.
I have submitted amendments, backed by Which? and the NFU, to ensure that no longer can we be misled as to the origin of the food we are eating in processed products. If successful, these amendments will ensure that labelling of the country of origin of a product becomes mandatory. They will also guarantee that, for meat products, information must be provided stating where the animal was reared. This will therefore avoid misleading statements that the product is from the UK, when the reality is that the meat contained in the product could in fact be from anywhere in the world.
Yours sincerely
Glenis Willmott MEP
MEP for the East Midlands and Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party
It is indeed scandalous that processed convenience foods or ready meals can mislead the consumer to such an extent that a chicken sandwich, made with chicken from Thailand, can be labelled as 'produced in the UK'. ('Convenience food labelling misleading' Independent 15th January).
Studies show that three quarters of consumers want to be able to see where their food comes from, and there can be nobody who actually wants to be misled by food labelling.
In the European Union, our 'common market' necessitates a shared labelling system for the food and drinks we consume. It clearly does not make sense to have 27 different sets of labelling requirements and common rules actually help reduce red tape and costs to food producers.
We are presently working on new legislation in the European Parliament, where I am responsible for the issue on behalf of the centre-left group of MEPs from the 27 Member States, and I hope our work will result in the provision of clear and accurate information on all the food we buy.
I have submitted amendments, backed by Which? and the NFU, to ensure that no longer can we be misled as to the origin of the food we are eating in processed products. If successful, these amendments will ensure that labelling of the country of origin of a product becomes mandatory. They will also guarantee that, for meat products, information must be provided stating where the animal was reared. This will therefore avoid misleading statements that the product is from the UK, when the reality is that the meat contained in the product could in fact be from anywhere in the world.
Yours sincerely
Glenis Willmott MEP
MEP for the East Midlands and Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party
They also use too much sugar, salt and fat, especially in ready made meals to bulk the product out, not good for diabetics let alone dieters trying to lose wieght, who cant be bothered to cook from scratch like me, the only way you know exaclty what is in your meal is to use fresh ingredients and cook from scratch. Todays housewives/mothers are ether too idle to cook meals or cant cook, prefering to waste money on junk food like Mcdonalds etc which to me is very expensive nt to mention one meal has all the fat, salt for one day and can contain 1000 calories, so what about breakfast etc, over consumption leads to obesity.
ReplyDelete