Traffic light labelling may mean stop for small manufacturers

When a part of the Food Standards Code is changed there is always a period of time allowed for the changes to be made by businesses. The best example is that of labelling changes. Often up to a year is allowed for the change to be on all labelling, to allow time for stocks of current packaging to be used up and new material produced.

If current packaging is left over at the end of the phase in period, it has to be dumped, which can be a significant expense for manufacturers.

There is a call by small food manufacturers for this to be considered during the decision making stage on the introduction of traffic light labelling on packaged foods.

With the economic situation being tight for manufacturing in general, small food manufacturers are very concerned about having to throw out packaging material and purchasing more, if this new labelling is required. This could be the difference between a business making a profit, surviving or going bust.

Lyn Bentley who is the Managing Director of Sticky Fingers Gourmet Foods is just one of the heads of small manufacturers who is voicing their fear about this problem. She says; “As a small manufacturer supplying to both the food service and retail food industries, the costs of having to change all of our labels will be prohibitive for us. If this new traffic light labelling becomes law, we will no longer manufacture for the retail industry at all. Being a small manufacturer, we need to get a good buy on our labels which means we need to bulk buy them. This costs a lot of money and we invest a lot of money making sure we have everything right with the labels. When labelling requirements change, companies like ours are given a certain amount of time to change our labels. Any stock not changed has to come off the shelf and is lost.”