Packaging legislation on hold

Packaging designers are yet to be affected by the wave of consumer pressure groups demanding clearer and more detailed information on food packaging.

A new scheme which would see products containing genetically modified ingredients labelled as “containing genetically modified organisms”, was to be approved by EU ministers last Monday. The meeting has now been put back to May.

Food packaging has come to the fore as a consumer issue, but designers say they have yet to see clients give nutritional factors more importance in labelling briefs.

They argue that legislation has failed to keep apace with the changing landscape of food retailing. The last significant change to food packaging legislation was the 1973 food legislation directive.

See News Analysis, page 8