Calorie Labelling Regulations 2022 continued – new guidance published

We previously wrote about the calorie information that food business operators are now required to include when selling food and drink that is prepared and sold for immediate consumption, and you can find our first article here.  

The government has since issued some guidance which illustrates how the provisions of the Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021 (the Calorie Labelling Regulations) work. If you are a food business operator that is selling food in scope of the Calorie Labelling Regulations, below is a recap of the guidance which outlines how to display the calorie information and calculate the calorie content.

How should calorie information be displayed?

As stated in our previous article, food business operators must:

• Display the energy content of the food in kilocalories (kcal).
• Reference the size of the portion to which the calorie information relates.
• Display the statement that ‘adults need around 2000 kcal a day’.

This information must be displayed at the point at which the consumer chooses what items to buy which, the guidance states, is considered as any place where customers choose what food to buy; this can be a menu on the premises, a display case on the premises and an online menu. The guidance provides an illustration of calorie labelling in different scenarios, which can be found here.  

The statement that ‘adults need around 2000 kcal a day’ needs to be displayed:

• Once on every page of the menu or each side of the card if the menu is double-sided.
• In a clear position where the statement can be easily seen and read by the consumer when choosing what food or drink to buy.

Displaying calorie content

The energy content of food and drink needs to be calculated in kilocalories (kcal) and should be made available on the menu, next to the description or the price of the items or, on a label identifying the food, next to or close to each item of food and displayed in a way that means that the label can be read by anyone choosing that item.

What if we have a 'build your own' menu?

The above steps must be followed, however where a food business operator has a 'build your own' menu, calorie information can be provided for each component of the food item. For example, a burger chain could provide calorie information for the burger bun, which is the base product, along with calorie information for a standard portion for the burger meat, the cheese, and each of the potential additions that the customer could choose. 

How should calorie content be calculated?

The calorie content displayed should be calculated using the conversion factors found in the applicable EU regulations, which you can find here and should be average values based on either:

• The food business operator's analysis of the food.
• A calculation from the known or average values of the ingredients used.
• A calculation from widely accepted data (for example, the McCance and Widdowson’s Composition of Foods dataset or EuroFIR or USDA Food Composition Data.

You can use a combination of these methods for the same menu, or even the same product if there are different parts to it.

Foot Anstey's specialist Regulatory lawyers work closely with food business operators nationwide supporting them as they navigate the regulatory framework applicable across the sector. For a more detailed discussion of how these regulations might affect your business and how we can support you in making the necessary preparations, please contact the team below.