The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has recently published the summary of responses and the government response to the consultation on fairer food labelling.  

This consultation was a joint UK-wide consultation undertaken by Defra on behalf of the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. It ran for 8 weeks from 12th March to 7th May 2024 and sought views on proposals for clearer food labelling through improved method of production and country of origin labelling. 

A total of 31,011 responses were received from individuals as well as a range of organisations, including public bodies, industry, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and academic institutions. 

The consultation revealed that the majority of respondents support changing mandatory country of origin labelling rules so that they apply to the meat used in minimally processed meat products. It also showed that there was strong support for mandatory method of production labelling reform. 

In response, Defra stated that they “will consider all views as we go forwards and will continue to work with relevant stakeholders including farming and food industry stakeholders, vets, scientists and NGOs as part of this continuing policy development”. 

“Recognising the strong support from the public and other stakeholders for clearer food information on welfare standards, we will consider the potential role of method of production labelling reform as part of the UK Government’s development of an overarching approach to animal welfare and the wider food strategy.  We will continue to work with the Devolved Governments on this”. 

Read more here.