Biomaterial Database

The current status of nutrition labelling in the United Kingdom. 1990

A Tyrrell, and A Rugg-Gunn

Dental School, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne.

During the past 10 years there has been considerable discussion about nutrition labelling of foodstuffs. In the United Kingdom, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has published several proposals for guidelines and regulations. The European Community has more recently considered this subject and has issued their proposals for draft directives. There is now considerable agreement between the UK guidelines on nutrition labelling published in 1987 and EC proposals which are under discussion. Compulsory nutrition labelling is unlikely in the immediate future, except when a nutrition claim is made, when labelling is to be compulsory and must conform to one of several specified formats. In contrast, many consumer groups believe that nutrition labelling should be compulsory for all packaged foods. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food intends to control nutrition claims, such as claims of 'high' or 'low' levels of various nutrients, and definitions of these nutrient levels have been proposed for discussion. Whether to label foods according to 'total' or 'added' sugars content, or both, is also under discussion.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009753	Nutritive Value	An indication of the contribution of a food to the nutrient content of the diet. This value depends on the quantity of a food which is digested and absorbed and the amounts of the essential nutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrate, minerals, vitamins) which it contains. This value can be affected by soil and growing conditions, handling and storage, and processing.	Biological Availability, Nutritional,Nutritional Availability,Availability, Biological Nutritional,Availability, Nutritional Biologic,Biologic Availability, Nutritional,Biologic Nutritional Availability,Nutrition Value,Nutritional Availability, Biologic,Nutritional Availability, Biological,Nutritional Biological Availability,Nutritional Food Quality,Nutritional Quality,Nutritional Value,Nutritive Quality,Availability, Biologic Nutritional,Availability, Nutritional,Availability, Nutritional Biological,Biological Nutritional Availability,Food Quality, Nutritional,Nutrition Values,Nutritional Biologic Availability,Nutritional Values,Nutritive Values,Quality, Nutritional,Quality, Nutritional Food,Quality, Nutritive,Value, Nutrition,Value, Nutritional,Value, Nutritive,Values, Nutrition,Values, Nutritional,Values, Nutritive
D003255	Consumer Organizations	Organized groups of users of goods and services.	Organizations, Consumer,Consumer Organization,Organization, Consumer
D004040	Dietary Carbohydrates	Carbohydrates present in food comprising digestible sugars and starches and indigestible cellulose and other dietary fibers. The former are the major source of energy. The sugars are in beet and cane sugar, fruits, honey, sweet corn, corn syrup, milk and milk products, etc.; the starches are in cereal grains, legumes (FABACEAE), tubers, etc. (From Claudio & Lagua, Nutrition and Diet Therapy Dictionary, 3d ed, p32, p277)	Carbohydrates, Dietary,Carbohydrate, Dietary,Dietary Carbohydrate
D005062	European Union	An economic union with the principal objectives of free movement of goods, capital, and labor. The constituent countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. (https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries accessed 12/31/2020)	Common Market,Euratom,European Atomic Energy Community,European Coal and Steel Community,European Common Market,European Community,European Economic Community,Community, European Economic,EEC,Economic Community, European,Common Market, European,Common Markets,Common Markets, European,Communities, European,Communities, European Economic,Community, European,Economic Communities, European,European Common Markets,European Communities,European Economic Communities,Market, Common,Market, European Common,Union, European
D005515	Food Labeling	Use of written, printed, or graphic materials upon or accompanying a food or its container or wrapper. The concept includes ingredients, NUTRITIONAL VALUE, directions, warnings, and other relevant information.	Labeling, Food,Nutrition Labeling,Product Labeling, Food,Food Labelling,Food Product Labeling,Labeling, Food Product,Labeling, Nutrition,Labelling, Food
D006077	Government Agencies	Administrative units of government responsible for policy making and management of governmental activities.	Agencies, Government,Agency, Government,Government Agency
D006113	United Kingdom	Country in northwestern Europe including Great Britain and the northern one-sixth of the island of Ireland, located between the North Sea and north Atlantic Ocean. The capital is London.	Great Britain,Isle of Man
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man