The laws of labelling

By law, almost every food product sold in the UK's shops must have some kind of labelling or marking to give consumers certain important information. These rules don't apply uniformly to all food products; fresh groceries such as raw vegetables or fruit, for example, are often sold without the printed labels seen on tinned or packaged goods.
Even then, any retailer beyond the private trader/market stall level will generally make sure that printed labels bearing this information is present on nearby shelving - or at least as much information as can be provided for fresh produce. If you look at the Food Labelling Regulations act of 1996, you'll see that some of its criteria isn't really appropriate for some goods.
Food must be marked or labelled with:
• The name of the food
• A list of ingredients, particularly food allergens
• The amount of an ingredient within the food's composition if it is named or associated with the food
• An appropriate indicator of durability (best before/use by)
• Any special storage conditions - refrigeration/freezing/dry storage
• The place of origin, if failure to reveal this would mislead the consumer
As you can see, it would be largely futile to list the name, ingredients or storage conditions for most fresh produce. Admittedly, when these goods are sold in bulk packages at large grocery retailers often include a sell-by-date, place of origin and how best to store the goods - but when sold on a smaller scale such as from a market stall or as individual pieces of fruit or vegetables, such information is both largely unnecessary and incredibly unlikely.
Of course many labels for food goods will contain far more than just the information required by law. This space is a valuable method of selling the product to the customer by standing out from competitor products often held on the same shelf.
This isn't a new practice, though obviously modern technology makes it easier to convey such information through printed labels and glossy packaging. At one point though, there was no legal obligation for this information to necessarily be true. In the past, it was common for foods such as beer, flour or spices to be adulterated with cheaper ingredients that were not only poor quality and deceived the customer - they could also be potentially dangerous.
Today though, the FSA (soon to have its powers transfered to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) keeps a watchful eye on food manufacturers and retailers to ensure that consumers are protected against dishonest labelling and costs. This ranges from protecting certain food names on a legal basis - for example, "chocolate" must have a certain amount of cocoa solids to be called as such - to requiring correct quantities to be given on labels or for the use of fillers such as water or fibres to extend a product.
About the author: Steve Millard is a freelance author writes article specially printing techniques and application. To learn more about Printed Labels and product's labels he recommends you to visit http://www.finecut.co.uk