12 Mar 2010 --- EU food and drink manufacturers welcome the broad consensus voiced among stakeholders on 2 March at a CIAA event to discuss portion information on food and drink products and its relevance for consumers in making food choices in line with their dietary needs.

The EU food and drink industry recognises that the way per portion based nutrition information is communicated to consumers presents a key challenge for the entire sector going forward so as to ensure that consumer information remains meaningful, practical and easily understood.

CIAA welcomes the large degree of convergence that, in addition to mandatory nutrition labelling per 100g/ml back-of-pack, panellists agreed some front-of-pack information was useful for consumers in providing simple, at-a-glance information on food and drink products.  CIAA supports the mandatory provision of the GDA icon for calories (energy) per portion on the front-of-pack, with the option of providing additional GDAs on a voluntary basis (front or back of pack) in line with the CIAA scheme.  This flexibility would ensure that not only the large, but also the small companies (which make up over 99% of the EU agri-food sector), are able to implement the provisions.

EU food and drink manufacturers are encouraged by the interest shown by stakeholders to engage in further constructive discussions on the portions issue as a basis for GDA labelling in the future. The technical work within CIAA to ensure the application of best practice across industry and the use of a consistent methodology for the expression of GDA per portion information will continue over the coming months with a view to feeding into the multi-stakeholder process.