New guidance on food marketing standards for traders

These reflect the fact that the UK will cease to be an EU member in January 2021 and will therefore be treated by the EU as a “third country” for trade purposes. Guidance covers:

Beef and veal

Eating eggs

Fresh produce

Hatching eggs and chicks

Hops and hop products

Poultry meat

Marketing standards are a set of rules intended to ensure that food products are of acceptable quality and are labelled accurately.

They also create a degree of uniformity, encouraging fair competition and helping shoppers to compare price easily between retailers.

There are both “general” marketing standards (applying to all goods) and “specific” marketing standards (special rules for certain items, eg: apples, tomatoes).

Marketing standards apply at all points in the supply chain, not just at the point of retail (eg: they apply to wholesale transactions).