The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today announced a public consultation on the use of food marketing terms in Ireland. The consultation aims to protect the consumer and the small food industry through a Code of Practice that outlines an agreed upon set of marketing term rules used to describe Irish food.
Words like ‘artisan/artisanal’ ‘farmhouse’, ‘traditional’, ‘natural’ have been identified as marketing terms that are be protected to allow small businesses to communicate genuine difference between their products and those of the mainstream.
According to Dr Wayne Anderson of FSAI, “Marketing terms are designed to resonate with consumers. However, when they are used incorrectly they have the potential to mislead. This is a concern that needs to be addressed so we are encouraging all parties to take part in the consultation process and submit their views […] In particular, it is important that consumers are confident that the foods they buy are accurately and truthfully described.
Food businesses should also be confident that genuine descriptions of their food are not diluted in the marketplace by the spurious use of undefined marketing terms by other food businesses.”
The consultation will run for eight weeks and responses must be entered by May 14 2014. All feedback and comments are to be considered for the FSAI’s final Code of Practice later in the year.
© 2014 - Checkout Magazine by Paul Campbell.
