“A healthy, varied and balanced diet represent an essential prerequisite for good health”; and to guarantee “a high level of safeguard for consumers” and facilitate their choice, the products placed on sale “must be safe and properly labelled”. Three years after the first proposed regulation of food labelling advanced by the Commission, the European Parliament, during its plenary session in May, approved a new regulation relating to the “nutritional and healthcare indications furnished on food products”. The provision could come into force already by the end of 2006. The aim of the EP is to ensure that consumers are given all the necessary information on food labels to know what are the ingredients of a product destined for the table, so as to preserve the health of citizens through a controlled diet. A further aim of the regulation is to ensure the free circulation of goods in the EU. The long-term objective is to reduce the incidence of many diseases linked to nutrition and diet. The information provided on labels, which manufacturers will be obliged to furnish, will specify with precision the content and calorie count of single foodstuffs; no false or dubious information on the effects of the products in question on health will be permitted. The regulation also defines the terms “nutritional indication” and “indication on health”, which some food industries exploit to try to convince consumers to purchase and consume their products.
