New EU labelling requirements for fruits and vegetables

The EU has brought in new marketing standards for how fruits and vegetables are labelled. This will involve how Country of Origin is shown. The indication of the country of origin must be preceded by a term such as “Origin” or “LvO”. Other accepted formulations are: “Grown in”, “Product of”, “COO” (abbreviation for Country of Origin).

For import shipments, the use of the term “Origin:” or “Produce of:” (or any other similar formulation) is no longer mandatory. The condition remains that there should be no uncertainty about the origin. Indications such as “Brazilian mangos” or “Australian limes” are insufficient as they do not guarantee that the product has been grown or produced in the country concerned.

There is also a change in the use of supplier and packer codes. On pre-packages, the name and address details of the packer/shipper may be replaced by the name and address details of the sales organisation (e.g. a retailer) in combination with a unique supplier code/packer code. The supplier code is usually provided by the retailer.