South Shropshire’s Conservatives Parliamentary Candidate Stuart Anderson has welcomed action to tackle misleading labelling on imports which undercut British farmers. The Environment Secretary has announced a “rapid consultation” on clearer labelling, aimed at tackling the unfairness created by misleading labelling - particularly where welfare standards aren’t comparable -and protecting farmers, with tighter controls on meat produced abroad but packaged in the UK.
Stuart said that clearer, more consistent labelling would equip consumers with greater confidence about how their food was farmed, so that farmers are fairly rewarded for meeting or exceeding high UK welfare standards - ensuring that great British food stands out from the crowd, with people lining up to buy British. He added that it would help to ensure food produced to the highest standard in the UK is consistently highlighted as such and imported products not meeting UK welfare standards are labelled as lower quality, helping shoppers to more easily identify and buy great British produce.
The consultation is set to also help improve how origin information is given online to support people find British products, and look at how we can do even more to ensure promotional activity such as Union Jack labels on supermarket shelves matches the products on the shelf. This will include bringing lightly processed meats into the same level of labelling as unprocessed pork, and beef. In addition, the consultation will explore whether existing country of origin labelling rules can be strengthened by mandating how and where origin information is displayed, for example, on the front of packs. In welcoming the consultation, Stuart said that it would help to ensure that farmers are fairly rewarded for meeting and often exceeding high UK welfare standards.
Stuart Anderson said: “Our farmers produce food that is envied around the world for its quality and the high standards to which it is produced. Yet, misleading labelling on imports has often undercut British farmers. So, I welcome the Government’s action to improve transparency in food labelling. It will help shoppers to make more informed choices, supporting farmers in Shropshire and ensuring food produced to the highest standard in the UK is being highlighted.”
Environment Secretary Steve Barclay said: “The lack of transparency can undercut British farmers and lead to consumers unknowingly purchasing products they deem unethical. This is not fair for consumers. And it’s not fair on farmers. We need to go firmer and faster and this is why we will shortly launch a rapid consultation to gather views on how we can make packaging information clearer to help boost consumer confidence and ensure farmers are fairly rewarded.”
