The UK farmers’ unions and the National Pig Association (NPA) have joined forces to press for the introduction of mandatory country of origin labelling for meat and milk in processed products.
The NFU, NFU Scotland, NFU Cymru and NPA have written to Defra secretary of state, Andrea Leadsom, saying the move would give shoppers more choice and confidence when buying British food and that it would increase transparency in the supply chain.
The four organisations have also expressed their concerns over the loss of food name protection as the UK negotiates a new post-Brexit deal with the EU.
“More needs to be done to make labelling clearer and all our organisations are lobbying hard on this issue,” they said, adding that the French government is currently implementing a two-year trial of country of origin labelling for meat and milk in processed products while other European governments have outlined their plans to implement country of origin labelling for processed foods.
“We believe that the UK Government should move now to introduce origin labelling for meat and milk in processed products which would provide greater transparency.
“With the Brexit negotiations on the horizon, this could be the start of strong national legislation to ensure we have clear country of origin labelling in the future.”
