Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004 Text with EEA relevance

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

This Regulation shall apply to catering services provided by transport undertakings when the departure takes place on the territories of the Member States to which the Treaties apply.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) the definitions of ‘food’, ‘food law’, ‘food business’, ‘food business operator’, ‘retail’, ‘placing on the market’ and ‘final consumer’ in Article 2 and in points (1), (2), (3), (7), (8) and (18) of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002;

(b) the definitions of ‘processing’, ‘unprocessed products’ and ‘processed products’ in points (m), (n) and (o) of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs (¹);

(c) the definition of ‘food enzyme’ in point (a) of Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1332/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on food enzymes (²);

(d) the definitions of ‘food additive’, ‘processing aid’ and ‘carrier’ in points (a) and (b) of Article 3(2) of, and in point 5 of Annex I to, Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on food additives (³);

(e) the definition of ‘flavourings’ in point (a) of Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on flavourings and certain food ingredients with flavouring properties for use in and on foods (⁴);

(f) the definitions of ‘meat’, ‘mechanically separated meat’, ‘meat preparations’, ‘fishery products’ and ‘meat products’ in points 1.1, 1.14, 1.15, 3.1 and 7.1 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin (⁵);

(g) the definition of ‘advertising’ in point (a) of Article 2 of Directive 2006/114/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 concerning misleading and comparative advertising (⁶);

(h) the definition of ‘engineered nanomaterials’ as established by point (f) of Article 3(2) of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 of the European Parliament and of the Council (⁷).

The following definitions shall also apply:

(a) ‘food information’ means information concerning a food and made available to the final consumer by means of a label, other accompanying material, or any other means including modern technology tools or verbal communication;

(b) ‘food information law’ means the Union provisions governing the food information, and in particular labelling, including rules of a general nature applicable to all foods in particular circumstances or to certain categories of foods and rules which apply only to specific foods;

(c) ‘mandatory food information’ means the particulars that are required to be provided to the final consumer by Union provisions;

(d) ‘mass caterer’ means any establishment (including a vehicle or a fixed or mobile stall), such as restaurants, canteens, schools, hospitals and catering enterprises in which, in the course of a business, food is prepared to be ready for consumption by the final consumer;

(e) ‘prepacked food’ means any single item for presentation as such to the final consumer and to mass caterers, consisting of a food and the packaging into which it was put before being offered for sale, whether such packaging encloses the food completely or only partially, but in any event in such a way that the contents cannot be altered without opening or changing the packaging; ‘prepacked food’ does not cover foods packed on the sales premises at the consumer’s request or prepacked for direct sale;

(f) ‘ingredient’ means any substance or product, including flavourings, food additives and food enzymes, and any constituent of a compound ingredient, used in the manufacture or preparation of a food and still present in the finished product, even if in an altered form; residues shall not be considered as ‘ingredients’;

(g) ‘place of provenance’ means any place where a food is indicated to come from, and that is not the ‘country of origin’ as determined in accordance with Articles 23 to 26 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92; the name, business name or address of the food business operator on the label shall not constitute an indication of the country of origin or place of provenance of food within the meaning of this Regulation;

(h) ‘compound ingredient’ means an ingredient that is itself the product of more than one ingredient;

(i) ‘label’ means any tag, brand, mark, pictorial or other descriptive matter, written, printed, stencilled, marked, embossed or impressed on, or attached to the packaging or container of food;

(j) ‘labelling’ means any words, particulars, trade marks, brand name, pictorial matter or symbol relating to a food and placed on any packaging, document, notice, label, ring or collar accompanying or referring to such food;

(k) ‘field of vision’ means all the surfaces of a package that can be read from a single viewing point;

(l) ‘principal field of vision’ means the field of vision of a package which is most likely to be seen at first glance by the consumer at the time of purchase and that enables the consumer to immediately identify a product in terms of its character or nature and, if applicable, its brand name. If a package has several identical principal fields of vision, the principal field of vision is the one chosen by the food business operator;

(m) ‘legibility’ means the physical appearance of information, by means of which the information is visually accessible to the general population and which is determined by various elements, inter alia, font size, letter spacing, spacing between lines, stroke width, type colour, typeface, width-height ratio of the letters, the surface of the material and significant contrast between the print and the background;

(n) ‘legal name’ means the name of a food prescribed in the Union provisions applicable to it or, in the absence of such Union provisions, the name provided for in the laws, regulations and administrative provisions applicable in the Member State in which the food is sold to the final consumer or to mass caterers;

(o) ‘customary name’ means a name which is accepted as the name of the food by consumers in the Member State in which that food is sold, without that name needing further explanation;

(p) ‘descriptive name’ means a name providing a description of the food, and if necessary of its use, which is sufficiently clear to enable consumers to know its true nature and distinguish it from other products with which it might be confused;

(q) ‘primary ingredient’ means an ingredient or ingredients of a food that represent more than 50 % of that food or which are usually associated with the name of the food by the consumer and for which in most cases a quantitative indication is required;

(r) ‘date of minimum durability of a food’ means the date until which the food retains its specific properties when properly stored;

(s) ‘nutrient’ means protein, carbohydrate, fat, fibre, sodium, vitamins and minerals listed in point 1 of Part A of Annex XIII to this Regulation, and substances which belong to or are components of one of those categories;

(u) ‘means of distance communication’ means any means which, without the simultaneous physical presence of the supplier and the consumer, may be used for the conclusion of a contract between those parties.

CHAPTER II

GENERAL PRINCIPLES ON FOOD INFORMATION

Article 3

General objectives

Article 4

Principles governing mandatory food information

Where mandatory food information is required by food information law, it shall concern information that falls, in particular, into one of the following categories:

(a) information on the identity and composition, properties or other characteristics of the food;

(b) information on the protection of consumers’ health and the safe use of a food. In particular, it shall concern information on: (i) compositional attributes that may be harmful to the health of certain groups of consumers; (ii) durability, storage and safe use; (iii) the health impact, including the risks and consequences related to harmful and hazardous consumption of a food;

(c) information on nutritional characteristics so as to enable consumers, including those with special dietary requirements, to make informed choices.

Article 5

Consultation of the European Food Safety Authority

Any Union measure in the field of food information law which is likely to have an effect on public health shall be adopted after consultation of the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’).

CHAPTER III

GENERAL FOOD INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF FOOD BUSINESS OPERATORS

Article 6

Basic requirement

Any food intended for supply to the final consumer or to mass caterers shall be accompanied by food information in accordance with this Regulation.

Article 7

Fair information practices

Food information shall not be misleading, particularly:

(a) as to the characteristics of the food and, in particular, as to its nature, identity, properties, composition, quantity, durability, country of origin or place of provenance, method of manufacture or production;

(b) by attributing to the food effects or properties which it does not possess;

(c) by suggesting that the food possesses special characteristics when in fact all similar foods possess such characteristics, in particular by specifically emphasising the presence or absence of certain ingredients and/or nutrients;

(d) by suggesting, by means of the appearance, the description or pictorial representations, the presence of a particular food or an ingredient, while in reality a component naturally present or an ingredient normally used in that food has been substituted with a different component or a different ingredient.

Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall also apply to:

(a) advertising;

(b) the presentation of foods, in particular their shape, appearance or packaging, the packaging materials used, the way in which they are arranged and the setting in which they are displayed.

Article 8

Responsibilities

In the following cases, food business operators, within the businesses under their control, shall ensure that the mandatory particulars required under Articles 9 and 10 shall appear on the prepackaging or on a label attached thereto, or on the commercial documents referring to the foods where it can be guaranteed that such documents either accompany the food to which they refer or were sent before or at the same time as delivery:

(a) where prepacked food is intended for the final consumer but marketed at a stage prior to sale to the final consumer and where sale to a mass caterer is not involved at that stage;

(b) where prepacked food is intended for supply to mass caterers for preparation, processing, splitting or cutting up.

Notwithstanding the first subparagraph, food business operators shall ensure that the particulars referred to in points (a), (f), (g) and (h) of Article 9(1) also appear on the external packaging in which the prepacked foods are presented for marketing.

CHAPTER IV

MANDATORY FOOD INFORMATION

SECTION 1

Content and presentation

Article 9

List of mandatory particulars

In accordance with Articles 10 to 35 and subject to the exceptions contained in this Chapter, indication of the following particulars shall be mandatory:

(a) the name of the food;

(b) the list of ingredients;

(c) any ingredient or processing aid listed in Annex II or derived from a substance or product listed in Annex II causing allergies or intolerances used in the manufacture or preparation of a food and still present in the finished product, even if in an altered form;

(d) the quantity of certain ingredients or categories of ingredients;

(e) the net quantity of the food;

(f) the date of minimum durability or the ‘use by’ date;

(g) any special storage conditions and/or conditions of use;

(h) the name or business name and address of the food business operator referred to in Article 8(1);

(i) the country of origin or place of provenance where provided for in Article 26;

(j) instructions for use where it would be difficult to make appropriate use of the food in the absence of such instructions;

(k) with respect to beverages containing more than 1,2 % by volume of alcohol, the actual alcoholic strength by volume;

(l) a nutrition declaration.

In order to ensure that consumers benefit from other means of expression of mandatory food information than words and numbers, and provided that the same level of information as with words and numbers is ensured, the Commission, taking into account evidence of uniform consumer understanding, may establish, by means of delegated acts in accordance with Article 51, the criteria subject to which one or more particulars referred to in paragraph 1 may be expressed by pictograms or symbols instead of words or numbers.

Article 10

Additional mandatory particulars for specific types or categories of foods

Where, in the case of the emergence of a risk to consumers’ health, imperative grounds of urgency so require, the procedure provided for in Article 52 shall apply to delegated acts adopted pursuant to this Article.

Article 11

Weights and measures

Article 9 shall be without prejudice to more specific Union provisions regarding weights and measures.

Article 12

Availability and placement of mandatory food information

Article 13

Presentation of mandatory particulars

For the same purpose as referred to in the first subparagraph, the Commission may, by means of delegated acts in accordance with Article 51, extend the requirements under paragraph 5 of this Article to additional mandatory particulars for specific types or categories of foods.

Article 14

Distance selling

Without prejudice to the information requirements laid down in Article 9, in the case of prepacked foods offered for sale by means of distance communication:

(a) mandatory food information, except the particulars provided in point (f) of Article 9(1), shall be available before the purchase is concluded and shall appear on the material supporting the distance selling or be provided through other appropriate means clearly identified by the food business operator. When other appropriate means are used, the mandatory food information shall be provided without the food business operator charging consumers supplementary costs;

(b) all mandatory particulars shall be available at the moment of delivery.

Article 15

Language requirements

Article 16

Omission of certain mandatory particulars

By 13 December 2014, the Commission shall produce a report concerning the application of Article 18 and Article 30(1) to the products referred to in this paragraph, and addressing whether alcoholic beverages should in future be covered, in particular, by the requirement to provide the information on the energy value, and the reasons justifying possible exemptions, taking into account the need to ensure coherence with other relevant Union policies. In this context, the Commission shall consider the need to propose a definition of ‘alcopops’.

The Commission shall accompany that report by a legislative proposal, if appropriate, determining the rules for a list of ingredients or a mandatory nutrition declaration for those products.

SECTION 2

Detailed provisions on mandatory particulars

Article 17

Name of the food

Article 18

List of ingredients

Article 19

Omission of the list of ingredients

The following foods shall not be required to bear a list of ingredients:

(a) fresh fruit and vegetables, including potatoes, which have not been peeled, cut or similarly treated;

(b) carbonated water, the description of which indicates that it has been carbonated;

(c) fermentation vinegars derived exclusively from a single basic product, provided that no other ingredient has been added;

(d) cheese, butter, fermented milk and cream, to which no ingredient has been added other than lactic products, food enzymes and micro-organism cultures essential to manufacture, or in the case of cheese other than fresh cheese and processed cheese the salt needed for its manufacture;

(e) foods consisting of a single ingredient, where: (i) the name of the food is identical to the ingredient name; or (ii) the name of the food enables the nature of the ingredient to be clearly identified.

Article 20

Omission of constituents of food from the list of ingredients

Without prejudice to Article 21, the following constituents of a food shall not be required to be included in the list of ingredients:

(a) the constituents of an ingredient which have been temporarily separated during the manufacturing process and later reintroduced but not in excess of their original proportions;

(b) food additives and food enzymes: (i) whose presence in a given food is solely due to the fact that they were contained in one or more ingredients of that food, in accordance with the carry-over principle referred to in points (a) and (b) of Article 18(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, provided that they serve no technological function in the finished product; or (ii) which are used as processing aids;

(c) carriers and substances which are not food additives but are used in the same way and with the same purpose as carriers, and which are used in the quantities strictly necessary;

(d) substances which are not food additives but are used in the same way and with the same purpose as processing aids and are still present in the finished product, even if in an altered form;

(e) water: (i) where the water is used during the manufacturing process solely for the reconstitution of an ingredient used in concentrated or dehydrated form; or (ii) in the case of a liquid medium which is not normally consumed.

Article 21

Labelling of certain substances or products causing allergies or intolerances

Without prejudice to the rules adopted under Article 44(2), the particulars referred to in point (c) of Article 9(1) shall meet the following requirements:

(a) they shall be indicated in the list of ingredients in accordance with the rules laid down in Article 18(1), with a clear reference to the name of the substance or product as listed in Annex II; and

(b) the name of the substance or product as listed in Annex II shall be emphasised through a typeset that clearly distinguishes it from the rest of the list of ingredients, for example by means of the font, style or background colour.

In the absence of a list of ingredients, the indication of the particulars referred to in point (c) of Article 9(1) shall comprise the word ‘contains’ followed by the name of the substance or product as listed in Annex II.