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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Explanatory Memorandum for European Union legislation within the scope of the UK/EU Withdrawal Agreement and Windsor Framework, COM(2023)201, June 2023, whether (a) Great British and (b) Northern Irish producers will be required to rename domestically-produced (i) jam and (ii) marmalade for sale in (A) Great Britain and (B) Northern Ireland as a consequence of the UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement; and whether other types of food will be affected by revised EU food labelling requirements.

As part of the UK-EU SPS Agreement currently being negotiated, the Government is making a sovereign choice in the national interest to align in some areas where it makes sense to do so. Once in force, the SPS agreement will mean less red tape and fewer costs for agrifood businesses trading with the EU.

As set out in the Government’s recently published announcement on legislation in scope, this is expected to include among other rules on fruit jams, jellies & marmalades ((Directive 2001/113/EC). The full list remains subject to ongoing negotiations and may therefore change.

The EU recently updated its rules on jams, jellies and marmalade, which will entail some changes to labelling of marmalade – requiring producers to label as ‘citrus marmalade’ or specify the type of citrus fruits used, which most UK producers already do.

Jam producers will need to comply with EU rules on labelling of jams, extra jams and reduced sugar jams and ensure their labelling reflects compositional requirements, which will entail change for some producers.

Under Windsor Framework commitments, Northern Ireland has already laid amending rules to implement the recent EU changes. These were laid on 20 January 2026 and will come into operation on the 14 June 2026.