Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to increase the information provided by food labelling.

As the Secretary of State discussed in his speech at the Oxford Farming conference, we think there is an opportunity to improve transparency for consumers and ensure fairness for producers, so consumers can be fully confident about what they’re buying. We therefore intend to launch a rapid consultation on clearer labelling.

The consultation will explore options for improving method of production labelling and country-of-origin labelling.

It will explore how we can better highlight imports that do not meet UK welfare standards, and, in terms of country-of-origin labelling, look at improving how and where origin information is displayed - including for minimally processed meat, such as bacon and ham - and what products should be in scope.

The exact details of the consultation will be published in due course.