Labelling in Europe
Learn about key European Union (EU) food labelling considerations and how our Trade Commissioner Service can help you navigate market regulations.
Video transcript
[Parisian themed music starts.]
[The video opens with a shot of the Eiffel Tower viewed from the Seine River. A red bar appears from the left. The title of the video appears on the bar.]
Text on screen: Canadian Agri-Food Trade Commissioners
[Cut to a time-lapse aerial view of a busy street in Paris. The text disappears and is replaced by new text. The red bar remains.]
Text on screen: Market Opportunity in Europe
[The red bar, text and image disappear from the screen. Cut to shot of Yannick Dheilly.]
Yannick Dheilly: My name is Yannick Dheilly. I'm a trade commissioner at the Canadian Embassy in Paris. My job is to address issues ranging from access to trade...
[Cut to slow motion of person holding plastic shopping basket walking through a grocery store.]
...including technical aspects like labelling.
[Parisian themed music fades out.]
[New electronic sounding music fades in.]
[Cut to close up a label being stuck onto a bottle of maple syrup.]
Text on screen: New labelling regulations
One issue is the new labelling regulations that became mandatory in late 2016.
[Cut to boxes of products moving quickly along a conveyor belt.]
There are several key points to understand about labelling...
[Cut to a close up shot of a clear package of pasta being sealed by a machine in a factory.]
...but the main one is that they are very different...
[Cut to shot of bottles of cooking oil moving along a conveyor belt in a factory.]
...from Canadian labelling regulations.
[Cut to a close up shot of maple syrup going into a maple leaf shaped bottle.]
Exporters are really not prepared for how different they are.
[Cut to conveyor belt moving along labeled cardboard which will be shaped into boxes for products.]
There are some fairly major differences...
[Cut to animated label of Nutrition Facts listing calories, total fat, saturated fat etc.]
Text on screen: Nutrition facts table
...with regard to the nutrition facts table...
[Cut to close up of label showing ingredients in a can of tomatoes.]
Text on screen: Ingredients
...the ingredients list...
[Cut to close up shot of lids being put onto containers by a machine in a factory.]
Text on screen: Claims
...and what claims can be made. Canada allows a bit more leeway than Europe...
[Cut to close up shot of Canadian label on a product which says "made with Canadian Wheat"]
...for example in using the words “natural”...
[Cut to shot of young couple shopping in grocery store and reading labels of products.]
...or “100% pure”...
[Cut to shot of Yannick Dheilly.]
...and the regulations make it difficult to understand what needs to be changed.
[Cut to the same young couple checking a label on a bottle in the grocery store.]
Text on screen: Consumer protection is a key concern
Consumer protection is a key concern in Europe...
[Cut to conveyor belt with bottles moving along it.]
...and the new law...
[Cut to boxes of product moving quickly along a conveyor belt in factory.]
...reinforces that even further.
[Cut to shot of the same young couple pushing a grocery cart and selecting a product off of the shelf.]
You have to be careful what you say about a product.
[Cut to small silver packages of product moving down a conveyor belt in factory.]
If you want to say it has certain attributes or make health claims, for instance...
[Cut to shot of Yannick Dheilly.]
...that kind of thing is very heavily regulated.
[Cut to a time-lapse shot of a shipping port where a ship is being loaded with containers.]
Text on screen: Non-compliant products
Non-compliant products are a problem.
[Cut to a closer time-lapse shot of activity at the shipping port.]
They won't be stopped by customs, contrary to what you might think.
[Cut to shot of Yannick Dheilly.]
However, once on the market, they will be considered non-compliant. That means that at any point in the process of going to market...
[Cut to time-lapse of distribution warehouse with trucks coming and going and being loaded with products.]
...they could be found to be non-compliant, and the distributor could be fined.
[Over top of the shot of the distribution warehouse are layered one at a time are 4 images of different labels on Canadian products.]
This will cause problems with the distributor or the retailer...
[Cut to a shot of stacked packages of pasta ready for shipping.]
...problems that really aren't necessary.
[Cut to shot of sunflower packages being filled in factory and then those packages being
taken off of a conveyor belt to be boxed for shipping.]
All you have to do is fix the labelling before going to market.
[Cut to close up shot of labels being put on a bottle of soy oil by hand.]
Trade commissioners like me can answer that kind of question, either by...
[Cut to shot of Yannick Dheilly.]
...providing a specific response on issues such as health claims or by performing a full analysis of a label. I do that kind of thing all the time.
[Cut to aerial shot of Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Red bar appears from left.]
Text on screen: Tradecommissioner.gc.ca
[The text on screen changes.]
Text on screen: Contact Us Today
[Dissolve to the animated Canada word mark]
Text on screen: (c) Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food (2017)
[Electronic sounding music fades out.]
[Fade to black.]
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