The EU law on food information for consumers (FIC) is changing which means that manufacturers can no longer hide ingredients under generic titles. And palm oil is one of those wildly used ingredients that will now come to light.
Until now, palm oil has been listed as vegetable oil but many products are starting to list the actual ingredients in anticipation of the legislation that is coming.
Many organizations, including the Association of Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery Industries of Europe, initially fought against FIC. As the secretary general, Sabine Nafziger, for the Association said, “At first people were nervous but now they are really happy to do it because it creates a level playing field. It is good that this debate is now out there.”
As Andrea Martinez-Inchausti, BRC’s assistant director for food policy said, “There seems to be a very strong move by consumers to claim their right to know what is in their food, and that labels are as clear as possible. [But] whether that translates into a change in consumer behaviour I think is still to be seen. For example, people asserted their right to have country of origin information and that [also] hasn’t seen any change in customer purchasing behaviour.”
