WRITTEN QUESTION E-3923/96 by Graham Mather (PPE) to the Commission (10 January 1997)

Subject: Peanut oil labelling on food products

During discussions on the latest round of amendments to Directive 79/112/EEC on food labelling, there were suggestions that peanut oils should be listed on all food labels. In the UK, an average of ten people lose their lives each year by eating nuts or, more particularly, foodstuffs which include peanut oils as an ingredient.

The final amendments to the food labelling directive did not include a requirement to label peanut oils, although substances such as gluten types were considered important enough to identify. The EU directive allows ingredients that do not make up more than 25% of a product to be exempt from labelling requirements. However, small doses of peanut oils to someone allergic can be lethal or debilitating.

Does the Commission plan to issue new regulations on labelling for peanut oils? If so, when would such a proposal be presented? If not, why does the Commission not see a need for such a regulation?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (4 February 1997)

The Commission is actively considering the need for amendments to the Community rules on food labelling in order to ensure that consumers are properly informed of the presence of potential allergens in foods, including peanuts and peanut oil.

At the request of the Commsision, in September 1995 the scientific committee for food produced a report on food allergy and food intolerance. The conclusions of this report are currently being discussed with the Member States. In addition, discussions on the labelling of allergens are taking place at international level within the framework of the Codex alimentarius.

Under current Community labelling rules, all ingredients which are directly added to a foodstuff must be included in the list of ingredients, including ingredients which make up less than 25% of the product. The exemption to which the Honourable Member refers applies only in the case of compound ingredients, which are themselves made up of several ingredients. In this case it is not necessary to list separately all the ingredients of the compound ingredient, if it amounts to less than 25% of the finished product.

In addition, due account must be taken of the fact that even trace levels of peanuts or peanut oil may be sufficient to provoke a severe allergic response in people who are particularly sensitive. Certain cases of severe or fatal allergic response to peanuts are believed to have arisen following consumption of foods which did not in themselves contain peanuts as ingredients, but in which residual levels of peanut material were present following the changeover from the production of one type of food to another.

Finally, the Commission would point out that a number of cases of severe allergic response to peanuts or peanut oil have arisen following the consumption of foodstuffs freshly prepared in restaurants or catering establishments which unexpectedly contained peanuts or material from peanuts. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the provision of information to consumers in such establishments is a matter for the national authorities.