The European Union has a long history of encouraging consumers to take a proactive approach to their own health and making it easier for them to navigate food products. To this end, Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directives 2001/110/EC on honey, 2001/112/EC on fruit juices and certain similar products intended for human consumption, 2001/113/EC on fruit jams, jellies and marmalades and chestnut cream intended for human consumption, and 2001/114/EC on certain concentrated milk and milk powder intended for human consumption, the so-called “Breakfast Directives”, were also adopted. It regulates the rules on the composition and labelling of individual products, as the name suggests, supporting the principle of “farmer to consumer” and making it easier for consumers to make informed choices.

The regulation on honey is significant, where the Council of the European Union (“the Council”) has decided to tackle counterfeiting. Honey made from multiple honeys is now required to indicate the percentage and the country of origin. In the interests of flexibility and without disturbing free movement on the market, Member States may allow, in the case of mixtures of honey with more than four different countries of origin, the indication of only the four largest proportions, provided that together they represent more than 50 % of the total content. For packages up to 30 g, only the country of origin code can be used to save space on the packaging.

The fact that fruit juices, unlike fruit nectars for example, must not contain added sugar is still not known to all consumers. This is why they often prefer to reach for fruit nectar, for example, but that, which is prominently labelled “no added sugar” or similar. To this end, the Council has decided that similar nutrition claims may also be present on fruit juices. Furthermore, in view of the demand for reducing the sugar content of foodstuffs and the fact that technological processes already exist to make this possible, three categories have been introduced for fruit juices with at least 30 % lower sugar content – reduced sugar fruit juices, reduced sugar concentrated fruit juices and reduced sugar fruit juices from concentrate.

We are also expecting new things in marmalades and jams. The Directive increases the fruit content of jams to 450 g in general (350 g for redcurrants, rowanberries, sea buckthorn, blackcurrants, rosehips and quinces) and of extra jams to 500 g in general (450 g for redcurrants, rowanberries, sea buckthorn, blackcurrants, rosehips and quinces). We may also see a great comeback of the term “marmalade”, which until now could only be used for a citrus product. However, the Council has taken into account that in some countries the word “marmalade” is used more than the word “jam”, thus allowing Member States to permit the name “Extra” marmalade for the product “Extra” jam.

Lactose-intolerant consumers will also appreciate the fact that processing is now allowed to produce lactose-free powdered milk products.