Food companies will have to provide key nutritional information such as fat content on the front of packaging under a draft EU law designed to tackle the obesity epidemic.
However, beer, spirits and wine producers will escape this strict labelling obligation after mounting a lobbying campaign co-funded by some of Ireland's biggest drinks firms.
The regulation is designed to simplify the myriad of different labelling laws throughout Europe, which EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou said yesterday confused shoppers by bombarding them with "too much" and sometimes "misleading" information.
"Today's proposal aims to ensure that food labels carry the essential information in a clear and legible way, so that EU citizens are empowered to make balanced dietary choices," said Mr Kyprianou, who warned of a growing obesity problem in Europe, particularly among young people.
Under the regulation, which must still be approved by EU states and the European Parliament, for the first time it will be mandatory for producers to provide nutritional information on all pre-packaged processed foods.
The energy, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugars and salt content of products will have to be expressed in terms of the per 100ml/100 grammes or per portion. The information will have to be put on the front of packaging in easy to read labels with lettering no smaller than three millimetres.
The regulation could be a blow to some retailers in Ireland such as Marks & Spencer, which have come up with a traffic light nutrition label system, which uses colours (red warns shoppers not to consume too much of a product) to indicate different fat content.
Mr Kyprianou said the concern with the traffic light labelling system, which is being promoted by the British Food Standards Agency, was that it risked "oversimplification". But he said this additional detail could still be given on labels as long as it didn't make it more confusing.
Dr John O'Brien, chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, said the draft regulation was good news as action was needed to help consumers.
He said it struck a good balance between simplifying the labelling environment and providing useful information to consumers.
But some consumer groups will be disappointed that the regulation was amended in the final hours before publication to offer beer, spirits and wine producers a derogation on labelling requirements.
Following a hectic lobbying campaign by industry associations representing drinks firms and some EU states, the commission backed away from forcing producers to provide mandatory nutritional information, or to carry warnings.
Instead the commission is proposing to evaluate this after five years of the regulation entering into force, although it has introduced nutritional labelling requirement for "alcopops" - fruit juices mixed with alcohol.
Submissions to the commission made by Food and Drink Industry Ireland and the Drinks Manufacturers of Ireland (DMI), which are funded by the drinks industry, both oppose mandatory labelling and warning labels.
"The vast majority of consumers who consume alcohol do so responsibly; it is only a small minority who misuse alcohol. DMI therefore considers that targeted measures, such as, unit labelling, specific education programmes and direct interventions from those in the medical (and associated) professions, are more effective than warning labels," it said.
Changing labels: making information mandatory
Firms currently must give the name of a product, the list of ingredients, the use-by date and any special conditions of use on the label of a product sold in the EU.
But providing nutritional information is optional, unless a specific health claim is made on a label.
Some producers have introduced voluntary labelling schemes to provide nutritional information, which the EU believes confuses consumers. Tesco provides guideline daily amount (GDA) information on its labels, which show percentages of GDA of sugar, salt, fat and calories in each serving. Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury use a traffic light label, where green is good and red warns shoppers not to consume too much of a product.
Under the draft EU regulation, producers must provide a set of specific nutritional information on pre-packaged processed foods. This mandatory information relates to the energy, fat, saturated fat and carbohydrates content of food per 100 milligrams or per portion. It must be displayed clearly on the front of packs in lettering no smaller than 3 millimetres.
Restaurants would also have to clearly display the presence of allergens such as peanuts, milk, fish and mustard in dishes, if the draft EU regulation comes into force.