Through the loophole

TEMPTING strawberries and raspberries will soon appear in the shops, but are you sure you know what you are buying?

The pack label required under EU regulations will give you weight, price and origin, but will it tell you whether the fruit has been treated with radiation? Or will it tell you if it has been sprayed with post harvest pesticides or fungicides?

EU directives have ensured that virtually all food products for sale here have labels that give information about ingredients, a best before date, storage instructions and so forth. However, producers do not have to tell you everything.

"We have nothing under our regulations on post harvest treatment," says Anne Gale, an executive officer at the Office of Consumer Affairs. Nor is there an Irish requirement to indicate foods which have been genetically engineered, although there is a new EU labelling directive on what are called "novel foods" which came into force last February.

There is a requirement to label foods that are exposed to nuclear radiation as a way to sterilise them and lengthen shelf life. Gale admits, however, that "we don't actually know" when a food has been irradiated. "We have to hope that the regulation is complied with."

Responsibility for the control of food labelling is vested in several bodies, Gale explains. The Department of Enterprise and Employment negotiates on new directives in Brussels and then assembles the resultant Irish regulations.

The Department of Health keeps an eye on any nutritional claims made by food processors, for example on vitamin content, and is also responsible for the novel foods area. It is up to the Office of Consumer Affairs to police the labelling regulations, along with the environmental health officers.

Labels must be clear, indelible and must not mislead - for example claim that the food can cure disease. The label must name the food, provide metric weight and best before date, provide a list of ingredients and offer storage instructions. If the package makes any health related claims such as low salt, low fat or high fibre, then nutritional details must be provided, giving the amounts of these things.

Break the rules and you can be prosecuted, with an £800 fine and up to six months in prison. Most complaints, Gale says, come not from the public but from the trade, part of the cut and thrust of competition.

But is this enough to protect consumer interests? The Consumer Association of Ireland doesn't think so. "We certainly need more transparent labelling, says Jean Cahill, a senior researcher with the association. "Some of the claims being made need investigation."

Ingredient lists currently give constituents in descending weight order, but the association would also like a percentage weight. Consumers could then see for example that their favourite "meat pie" might only contain 5 per cent meat by weight.

Organic food labelling is largely regulated by the trade. There are EU directives controlling claims that a food is "organic", but compliant companies use this as a marketing tool to promote their products and watch the marketplace for any supplier who might make spurious claims about organic produce.

Clearly the unrelenting trend is towards more and more information. "We are moving in general towards a situation of complete disclosure," states Prof Paul McNulty of UCD's Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering.