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Food warnings on menus

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Not on the label: innovative chefs like the Fat Duck's Heston Blumenthal could be forced to list every ingredient in their dishes on their restaurant menus

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• Charles Campion's food blog

Restaurant owners face having to include warning labels on their menus listing the full contents of all their dishes.

A new European Union clampdown over labelling will require chefs to flag up foods, such as nuts, which can cause an allergic reaction.

Waiters will have to know the exact ingredients in meals, even the type of oil used in the cooking.

The move could affect such chefs as Heston Blumenthal, who runs the Michelin-starred Fat Duck resturant in Bray, Berkshire.

Blumenthal is famed for his "molecular gastronomy" with its innovative - and complex - recipes such as snail porridge and scrambled egg and bacon ice cream.

EU guidelines, due to be published this year, could also lead to a ban on sales of homemade jam and cakes.

Amateur cooks will be barred from baking for village fetes unless their produce is marked with a detailed contents sticker instead of just the date on which it was made.

The clampdown follows growing concern among consumers about food allergies and additives.

It is causing outrage among restaurateurs and amateur cooks. The National Federation of Women's Institutes and the British Hospitality and Restaurant Association are among those who have complained to the Food Standards Agency.

The agency is consulting on the impact of the Brussels directive.

Restaurateurs say they will have to remove sauce sachets from tables because there would not be enough room on them to carry full details of the ingredients.

The rules do not apply to produce that is sold loose or is not wrapped, such as fruit and vegetables.

However, anyone selling produce at farmers' markets, which are currently exempt from many labelling regulations, would be required to carry comprehensive details of the origin of many items.

Experts have warned that home bakers could try to exploit a loophole in the directive by leaving their food uncovered, posing a threat to hygiene standards. They added that labelling "overkill" can turn off consumers, especially people with allergies who end up disregarding the advice, sometimes with dangerous consequences.

Ruth Bond, who chairs the WI's public affairs committee, said the EU would deter home food-making because of the cost and time involved in producing the labels.

She said: "We have told the FSA that if we have to abide by this then a lot of goodies will not be baked or sold. People don't have time to fiddle about with labels and the cost of implementing this is not to be sniffed at. This would affect a lot of people."

Dawn Stuckey, partner of villagefetes.co.uk, said the impact on jam and cake makers would depend on how detailed the ingredient labels had to be. She said: "If it just means writing 'contains berries and sugar' then that's not too bad but if they also have to say exactly how much fruit then that is going to add cost."

Rita Exner, secretary of the National Farmers' Retail & Markets Association, said the current exemptions had been a major factor in the success of farmers' markets.

"The wonderful thing about farm producers is that you can adapt the recipe according to what's in season," she said.

The Nutrition Society said it was in favour of labelling being extended but warned that small-scale producers could be forced out of business.

The Food Standards Agency said the clampdown was in response to changing attitudes among consumers. However, it said it was prepared to challenge the EU on cake and scone labelling.

 

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