Country of origin labelling

How people understand and use ‘country of origin’ labels? Food Standard Agency commissioned a package of research to find out more about it. The study consisted of five separate pieces of research that have been pulled together into one report. A range of methods were used to investigate consumer attitudes, including questionnaires, group discussions and innovative eye-tracking technology that looks at people’s behaviour in real life situations.

The results will both improve the information we have on this subject and also help to inform discussions about a European proposal on food labelling. It will require businesses that make origin claims to provide further information, so that people will know where their food actually comes from, not just where it was processed.

The research shows that, even if 78% of meat and meat products now carry a country of origin statement (compared with 69% in 2005), only 44% of meat products now give the origin of meat ingredients. Moreover, consumers are confused about whether ‘country of origin’ refers to where animals are born, raised or slaughtered or whether this refers to where a food product has been produced.

Even if 'origin labelling' is not a main concern for consumers when shopping, some consumers are willing to pay a small amount more if the origin of their food is important to them. When asked on which foods they would like to see origin labelling, people most frequently mentioned meat and meat products. Price and food safety information on labels were considered by consumers to be, on the whole, more important than country of origin labelling

This research shows that even though "country of origin" isn’t a top priority for consumers, confusion remains over what "Produced in the UK" actually means. 'The issue is not about more origin labelling but the need for greater clarity on the labels on some of our most popular foods.