Labelling food products

Falsely describing, advertising or presenting food is an offence. Businesses can be prosecuted for deliberately misleading customers (for example, through dishonest labelling) about what they're buying. Misdescription can also pose serious risks to people intolerant or allergic to certain foods and can lead to unfair competition for compliant businesses.  

Laws that protect consumers against dishonest labelling and misleading descriptions include:

• Food Safety Order
• Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations
• General Food Regulations
• Food Information Regulations

The description of food includes any of the following information:

• the name of the food
• its ingredients
• its origin
• the processes it has undergone

Maintaining accurate specifications, checks and approvals can help reduce the risk of misleading descriptions.

Examples of food misdescription

Typical examples of misdescription include:

• Wrong composition: For example, selling ‘chocolate’ with lower than legally required amount of cocoa solids. Even if there are no specific composition rules for a food, such as fish fingers, it still must be described accurately.
• Using hidden extenders: For example, adding undeclared offal to meat products like sausages deceiving customers who expect pure meat.
• False origin of food or ingredients: For example, labelling Polish chicken as ‘NI Farm Fresh’ misleading the consumer on country or origin/animal species.
• Undisclosed treatments: Incorrectly describing, or failing to describe, a process or treatment of food - such as not declaring irradiated food.
• Wrong quantities: Incorrectly stating the amount of an ingredient – for example, claiming ‘50% pork sausages’ when the product is in fact 30% pork.
• Suggesting that food is of a certain quality or superior to other similar products when it is actually not superior or of a higher quality.

Food misdescription as food crime

Misdescription of food is not always treated as a crime, but the law does create specific criminal offences for misleading descriptions. Minor, unintentional errors are often dealt with as non-compliance, and addressed through advice, correction and other enforcement tools.

However, clear or repeated misdescription, or misdescription done deliberately or recklessly, is likely to be treated as a food crime. Businesses should report suspected food crime immediately to protect consumers, support enforcement and prevent wider contamination risks.