An amendment to Jersey’s Draft Food Law is calling for special labels to be printed on low-quality food items. Before Brexit, produce such as chlorinated chicken was banned. Under new trade arrangements, Jersey has been unable to prevent these foods from being imported. Labels would be added at Jersey customs to inform customers of what they are buying.
The stickers would show the customer that particular items are ‘low-welfare’, allowing people to make their own decisions on what they buy. Labelling products does come with additional costs and resources, and this will make up part of the debate by the states. The amendment will be debated alongside the original law which aims to regulate food to protect human health and consumers’ interests in Jersey.
Incorrect or misleading labels on food products and menus could soon lead to a two-year prison sentence in Jersey. The island’s Environment Minister has lodged a proposition to update the food safety law, to replace the current 1966 legislation.
Deputy Jonathan Renouf’s proposition says the current law is “outdated and not fit for purpose in the 21st century”, it also makes reference to changes in food technology and the risk of disease. “Changes in food technology such as microwaves, blast chillers and sous vide, along with changes in production and storage techniques, require a Law which is up to date and which can be updated as required. “Newly emerging pathogens, genetic modifications of food and changing animal husbandry can have an effect on food products and may require regulation.”
The report highlights the increasing interest by the public to know what they are consuming and the demand for regulation of labelling which details specific allergens or for ingredients such as palm oil. Changes to the legislation would bring the island closer in line with the United Kingdom, which introduced “Natasha’s Law” in 2021.
The creation of the law followed the death of teenager Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died after suffering an allergic reaction to a Pret A-Manger baguette. “Natasha’s Law” requires all food businesses to include full ingredients on pre-packaged food labels. The legislation came into force in England and Northern Ireland in 2021. In 2019 Jersey’s then Environment Minister began a review of the law, however, it was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Assembly approved the updated Food Law by 43 votes to nil. A report on the law said it would “regulate food for the purposes of protecting human health and consumers’ interests in Jersey, as well as increasing food security, and facilitating export and innovation in the food sector”.
Mr Evans said he thought training needed to be given to staff in restaurants to ensure mistakes were not made. “All too often, labelling alone is not sufficient to prevent incidents happening, as you see in countries that have compulsory labelling regimes like the UK,” Mr Evans said. “It’s been difficult for a lot of people, particularly people with serious nut allergies, where at the moment there is no provision whatsoever to label nuts on restaurant menus.” Mr Evans said the new law would “undoubtedly” make eating out at restaurants and cafes a more enjoyable experience.
Natasha’s Law
The rules – known as “Natasha’s Law” – require full ingredient and allergen labelling on all food made on premises and pre-packed for direct sale. The change follows the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse from anaphylaxis after she ate sesame in a baguette. Her parents said she would be “very proud” of the new regulations.
Natasha’s mother, Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, told BBC Breakfast that she and husband Nadhim had been waiting for this day for years. “Today we really feel like we’ve achieved it and it feels really special,” she said. Mr Ednan-Laperouse said they had set up a parliamentary petition online calling for an allergy tsar as a “matter of life and death”.
The couple set up the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation and campaigned for the change in law after a food labelling loophole left Natasha unaware that the baguette she ate contained sesame seeds.
The New Law
The Law introduces a suite of notices which allows a nuanced approach to regulation which will be less disruptive to, and more encouraging of, businesses while still protecting Public Health. These notices will allow threats to Public Health to be dealt with proportionately, with minimal disruption of food businesses. Such notices may require minor physical improvements to reduce the risk of pathogenic contamination, a change to techniques to ensure there is no contamination of food stuffs or, in the most extreme circumstances, a business to close until issues are addressed. The Law allows for appeal to the Magistrate’s Court in the first instance, rather than the Royal Court, making an appeal more affordable and a more realistic possibility for small businesses.
With the UK leaving the European Union, the UK Department for International Trade has signed-up to a series of trade agreements which opened the UK’s internal market to imports of many products that would have previously been seen as politically contentious – such as hormone-treated beef, chlorine washed chicken, and GM foodstuffs.
Jersey is an autonomous jurisdiction with regard to domestic legislation, including legislation on sanitary and phytosanitary requirements for the production, import and sale of live animals, food and plants. However, Jersey is also within the WTO (by extension of the UK’s membership). Historically Jersey has placed only very limited prohibitions and restrictions on goods entering from the UK or indeed from the EU. As things stand, Jersey’s restrictions on the movement of goods into the Bailiwick from the EU are aligned with the restrictions implemented on such imports to the UK; and, in addition, Jersey licenses the movement of certain livestock and prohibits the import of liquid cows’ milk from the UK and elsewhere.
