The BFFF received an update from the FSA relating to the labelling of sunflower oil substitutes:

Please note that this is not an official line at this stage as the FSA Board are still to meet. Once the Board have met, we’ll formally notify Local Authorities (LAs) and industry. So please do bear in mind that this position may be subject to changes as a result of comments from the FSA Board when the meeting is re-scheduled at a later date.

The FSA has been liaising with LAs on the matter and so far we have received 96 notifications, relating to 105 product reformulations across a range of different foods, where LAs have agreed to a pragmatic approach to enforcement in relation to undeclared ingredients. This is therefore considered to be an issue for a relatively small number of products. In all cases, LAs have worked with the business to ensure that consumers are informed through mitigating actions, such as over-stickering with labels, ink-jetting onto the packaging, point of sale notices and online information. All businesses have been working towards a return to accurate labelling by end of October. In some cases, the business has ordered new packaging but is not yet confident it will arrive on time, given continued uncertainties in this supply chain.

We do not see merit in amending the timeline of end October for return to compliance, given its galvanising effect, and are content that LAs and businesses have worked effectively to mitigate the risks to consumers where labelling has been inaccurate. LAs will continue to engage with businesses in their area to ensure swift progress towards return to compliance if the October deadline is indeed missed in some cases, and to ensure that mitigations remain in place if so.

In addition, our June letter to LAs on this issue clarified our advice in relation to the use of the term ‘in varying proportions’, where different vegetable oils are grouped on the ingredients list.  This advice continues and is not part of the end of October deadline.

To summarise, we recognise there are still ongoing issues with supplies and packaging labelling, but overall, businesses should move on from the substitution of the ingredient which is undeclared on the label, as early as can be achieved. We expect LAs to advise businesses on their return to compliance in line with the end of October deadline, taking account of individual situations on a case-by-case basis, and using inherent flexibilities within the BAU LA industry relationship to support this.

LAs through the statutory codes of practice, offer food business operators advice on compliance, with enforcement action only taken where needed as part of the hierarchy of enforcement and based on public interest.

We will clearly communicate these expectations via email and the smarter comms system to LAs and industry.

We are grateful to industry for taking time to bring to our attention the ongoing uncertainties in supply of ingredients and the labelling and packaging capacity issues. These have been taken into account in the formulation of the update and we will make reference to ongoing supply concerns linked to the war in Ukraine, as part of our advice to LAs.