Bread
(asked on 8th November 2022) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason proposals on (a) bread consumption, (b) labelling and (c) marketing regulations were not included in her Department's consultation on Amending the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 and the Bread and Flour Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998, published on 1 September 2022.
The Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 and the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 cover specific rules on the labelling and composition of bread and flour. HM Government and the Devolved Administrations committed to carry out a review of Bread and Flour Regulations across the United Kingdom. We published a UK-wide consultation on 1st September 2022 on proposed changes to the regulations, this is open for responses until 23rd November.
As part of the review Defra convened a technical working group made up of a wide range of relevant stakeholders to help identify and explore the issues around the regulations. The proposals included in the consultation address the most pressing aspects identified for change. These include the mandatory addition of folic acid to non-wholemeal flour to reduce neural tube defects in foetuses, and improvements to the legislation which will help reduce burdens for businesses while still protecting the health of consumers.
Rules on the labelling and marketing of food more broadly are covered in general labelling legislation, and the United Kingdom maintains high standards on the information provided on food labels. Some suggestions on labelling and marketing of bread and flour were felt to go beyond those specific areas and were deemed out of scope of this consultation exercise. However, an update of existing guidance around commonly used marketing terms across all foods is planned for the future. HM Government is committed to optimising the information that is available to consumers, and the Government Food Strategy sets out work that we will be taking forward on consumer information and transparency.