On Saturday December 13 2015 the Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EU FIC) became active.
This means that as of now every caterer must be able to tell their customers if their food contains any number of 14 selected allergens or potentially face unlimited fines.
For foodservice businesses, this marks a long journey of data gathering, processing and staff training. There have been impressive examples of solidarity between independent wholesalers and smaller brands, with product information provided for data pools.
An example of this is the new interactive support website set up by Country Range Group to help caterers cope with new demands. The tool enables caterers to search 6,000 SKUs by product, allergen type, or brand to quickly find out information from a whole range of food service suppliers.
However, wholesalers claim many big brand manufacturers are still reluctant to share crucial information with them. We know that 2016 will see harsher restrictions put in place, as even more allergen food labelling requirements come in.
Looking ahead, Better Wholesaling will continue to explore ways to keep wholesalers fully informed about these challenges. To do this, we need to know how this new regulation is affecting your business. Call us on 020 7689 3379 to tell us how this regulation is affecting you and what you need from your suppliers.
