In yet another instance of food labelling manifesting itself as an issue far larger than simple product development, UK politicians are now actively discussing the fine details of daily label policy in the wake of the Brexit vote and the upcoming divorce from the EU. Ac-cording to the current Farming Minister, it is quite likely that the UK government will soon im-plement new mandatory dairy labelling standards in order to crack down on the possibility of counterfeit country of origin labels being manufactured in other European nations. Of course, such an initiative would have significant repercussions throughout the UK agricultural industry at large. After all, if such mandatory standards were, indeed, enforced, this would require a significant financial investment on behalf of the UKs dairy farmers long before any additional profits which may result from such economic protectionism could be manifested. Although politicians have made it quite clear that the chance of any new stand-ards being implemented prior to the actual Brexit divorce is nil, the fact that such an issue has reached the point where it is being regularly discussed is enough of a signal for many dairy farmers that it is now time to begin research what strategies may be implemented in order to reduce costs while simultaneously remaining in compliance with such standards.
According to George Eustice, the current Farming Minister, the adherence to a strict country of origin labelling scheme within the dairy industry is an idea which has long been considered a primary objective of the nations domestic agricultural sector. Of course, such desires have ultimately been thwarted by reigning EU policy, that is until Brexit is finally achieved. In the words of Eustice, We have always had a very clear position that we would like to see the extension of mandatory country of origin labelling where we are able to do so.
It is interesting to note that, according to current EU labelling standards, dairy prod-ucts such as milk and cheese need only be labelled with the last country they were pro-cessed in rather than their actual country of origin. As could be expected, this particular sys-tem allows companies to conceal potentially troubling information, particularly in an era where UK consumers may be especially sensitive to the subject of domestic and foreign production alike. Ultimately, it will be impossible to accurately assess what the real ramifica-tions of such policy moves will be until they are actually implemented, primarily due to the fact that a much larger web of related economic issues will likely influence this singular de-bate. It is virtually impossible to isolate a single parameter of the contemporary UK econo-my, which means that a truly accurate understand of precisely how such labelling policies will affect dairy farmers may remain elusive for quite a while.
At any rate, however, this news yet again thrusts into the spotlight the unique role which labelling plays in the much larger debate regarding nationalism, economic protection-ism and the real implications of Brexit in the 21st century. More information regarding this issue and other related economic policy discussions will likely be made available as the gov-ernment takes more tangible strides towards a post-Brexit reality.
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