Commission Directive 91/71/EEC

Last updated

Directive 91/71/EEC
European Union directive
Flag of Europe.svg
TitleCommission Directive 91/71/EEC of 16 January 1991 completing Council Directive 88/388/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to flavourings for use in foodstuffs and to source materials for their production
Made by Commission
History
Date made16 January 1991
Entry into force7 February 1991
Implementation date7 February 1991
Repealed

Directive 91/71/EEC is an EU directive that was passed by the European Commission in 1991 regarding the level of sweeteners, flavourings and additives used in foods by states within the European Union and banning foods that did not comply. The directive was repealed in 2011. [1]

Contents

Regulations

The directive required that all foodstuffs containing colouring, additives or flavouring, within member states in the EU had to be identified clearly on the packaging. The directive was an attempt to harmonise the identification of sweeteners and prohibit additives within certain foods. [2] The directive would come into force in 1994, when all foods that did not conform would be banned from sale in the EU. [1]

Prawn cocktail crisps

One particular Euromyth about the directive was that it would lead to a ban of prawn cocktail-flavoured crisps in the United Kingdom. [3] [4] The source of the myth was a proposal by EU Commissioner Martin Bangemann to ban artificial sweeteners in crisps, [5] thus leading to news reports that the EU wanted to ban prawn cocktail crisps altogether. [6] As a result, Bangemann was called "The sour kraut who wants to ban our crisps" in the British media, [2] and journalists followed him in Luxembourg and offered him prawn cocktail crisps. [7]

The potential ban was later proven to be as a result of a mistake on the part of the British civil service, which forgot to include specifically-flavoured crisps when they compiled a list of the nation's food items that were to be exempt from the directive. When the food industry pointed out the omission, the mistake was rectified. [8]

The story was parodied in The Thin Blue Line sitcom in which a French EU Commissioner states, "You [British] insist on eating prawn cocktail crisps, despite the fact we have told you not to". [9] It was also cited by Boris Johnson during the United Kingdom's referendum on the British membership in the European Union campaign in 2016. [3] [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aspartame</span> Artificial non-saccharide sweetener

Aspartame is an artificial non-saccharide sweetener 200 times sweeter than sucrose and is commonly used as a sugar substitute in foods and beverages. It is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide with brand names NutraSweet, Equal, and Canderel. Aspartame was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1974, and then again in 1981, after approval was revoked in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flavoring</span> Food additive used to change its aroma or taste

A flavoring, also known as flavor or flavorant, is a food additive used to improve the taste or smell of food. It changes the perceptual impression of food as determined primarily by the chemoreceptors of the gustatory and olfactory systems. Along with additives, other components like sugars determine the taste of food.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gin</span> Distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper

Gin is a distilled alcoholic drink flavoured with juniper berries and other botanical ingredients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liqueur</span> Alcoholic beverage

A liqueur is an alcoholic drink composed of spirits and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-aged, beyond a resting period during production, when necessary, for their flavors to mingle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marmite</span> UK brand of yeast extract spread

Marmite ( MAR-myte) is a British savoury food spread based on yeast extract, invented by the German scientist Justus von Liebig. It is made from by-products of beer brewing (lees) and is produced by the British company Unilever. Marmite is a vegan source of B vitamins, including supplemental vitamin B12. A traditional method of use is to spread it very thinly on buttered toast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stevia</span> Sweetener and sugar substitute

Stevia is a sweet sugar substitute that is about 50 to 300 times sweeter than sugar. It is extracted from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana, a plant native to areas of Paraguay and Brazil. The active compounds in stevia are steviol glycosides. Stevia is heat-stable, pH-stable, and not fermentable. Humans cannot metabolize the glycosides in stevia, and therefore it has zero calories. Its taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, and at high concentrations some of its extracts may have an aftertaste described as licorice-like or bitter. Stevia is used in sugar and calorie-reduced food and beverage products as an alternative for variants with sugar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyclamate</span> Chemical compound

Cyclamate is an artificial sweetener. It is 30–50 times sweeter than sucrose, making it the least potent of the commercially used artificial sweeteners. It is often used with other artificial sweeteners, especially saccharin; the mixture of 10 parts cyclamate to 1 part saccharin is common and masks the off-tastes of both sweeteners. It is less expensive than most sweeteners, including sucralose, and is stable under heating. Safety concerns led to it being banned in a few countries, though the European Union considers it safe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squash (drink)</span> Non-alcoholic concentrated syrup

Squash, is a non-alcoholic beverage with syrup used in beverage making. It is usually fruit-flavoured, made from fruit juice, water, and sugar or a sugar substitute. Modern squashes may also contain food colouring and additional flavouring. Some traditional squashes contain herbal extracts, most notably elderflower and ginger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diacetyl</span> Chemical compound

Diacetyl ( dy-yuh-SEE-tuhl; IUPAC systematic name: butanedione or butane-2,3-dione) is an organic compound with the chemical formula (CH3CO)2. It is a yellow liquid with an intensely buttery flavor. It is a vicinal diketone (two C=O groups, side-by-side). Diacetyl occurs naturally in alcoholic beverages and some cheeses and is added as a flavoring to some foods to impart its buttery flavor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neotame</span> Artificial sweetener

Neotame, also known by the brand name Newtame, is a non-caloric artificial sweetener and aspartame analog by NutraSweet. By mass, it is 7,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than sucrose. It has no notable off-flavors when compared to sucrose. It enhances original food flavors. It can be used alone, but is often mixed with other sweeteners to increase their individual sweetness and decrease their off-flavors. It is chemically somewhat more stable than aspartame. Its use can be cost effective in comparison to other sweeteners as smaller amounts of neotame are needed.

<i>Kuih</i> Southeast Asian snack or dessert foods

Kuih are bite-sized snack or dessert foods commonly found in Southeast Asia and China. It is a fairly broad term which may include items that would be called cakes, cookies, dumplings, pudding, biscuits, or pastries in English and are usually made from rice or glutinous rice. In China, where the term originates from, kueh or koé (粿) in the Min Nan languages refers to snacks which are typically made from rice but can occasionally be made from other grains such as wheat. The term kuih is widely used in Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, kueh is used in Singapore and Indonesia, kue is used in Indonesia only, all three refer to sweet or savoury desserts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Smith's Snackfood Company</span> Snack food manufacturing company

The Smith's Snackfood Company is a British-Australian snack food brand owned by the American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation PepsiCo. It is best known for its brand of potato crisps. The company was founded by Frank Smith and Jim Viney in the United Kingdom in 1920 as Smith's Potato Crisps Ltd, originally packaging a twist of salt with its crisps in greaseproof paper bags which were sold around London. The dominant brand in the UK until the 1960s when Golden Wonder took over with Cheese & Onion, Smith's countered by creating Salt & Vinegar flavour which was launched nationally in 1967.

The law in the United Kingdom on food information and labelling is multifaceted and is spread over many reforms and parliamentary acts. UK law is based on the relevant European Union rules, chiefly Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, which is implemented in the UK in the Food Information Regulations 2014, the Food Information (Wales) Regulations 2014, the Food Information (Scotland) Regulations 2014 and the Food Information Regulations 2014. Regulations apply to the labelling of goods pre-packaged for sale and to the provision of information regarding non-prepacked (loose) foods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skips (snack)</span> Snack from the United Kingdom and Ireland

Skips are a snack from the United Kingdom and Ireland which were first launched in 1957 in prawn cocktail flavour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prawn cocktail</span> Shellfish appetizer

Prawn cocktail, also known as shrimp cocktail, is a seafood dish consisting of shelled, cooked prawns in a Marie Rose sauce or cocktail sauce, served in a glass. It was the most popular hors d'œuvre in Great Britain, as well as in the United States, from the 1960s to the late 1980s. According to the English food writer Nigel Slater, the prawn cocktail "has spent most of see-sawing from the height of fashion to the laughably passé" and is now often served with a degree of irony.

The artificial sweetener aspartame has been the subject of several controversies since its initial approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1974. The FDA approval of aspartame was highly contested, beginning with suspicions of its involvement in brain cancer, alleging that the quality of the initial research supporting its safety was inadequate and flawed, and that conflicts of interest marred the 1981 approval of aspartame, previously evaluated by two FDA panels that concluded to keep the approval on hold before further investigation. In 1987, the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded that the food additive approval process had been followed properly for aspartame. The irregularities fueled a conspiracy theory, which the "Nancy Markle" email hoax circulated, along with claims—counter to the weight of medical evidence—that numerous health conditions are caused by the consumption of aspartame in normal doses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walkers (snack foods)</span> British snack food manufacturer

Walkers Snack Foods Limited, trading as Walkers, is a British snack food manufacturer mainly operating in the UK and Ireland. The company is best known for manufacturing potato crisps and other snack foods. In 2013, it held 56% of the British crisp market. Walkers was founded in 1948 in Leicester, England, by Henry Walker. The Walkers family sold the business in 1970 to American food producer, Standard Brands. In 1989, Walkers was acquired by PepsiCo, owners of US snack brand Frito-Lay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prawn cracker</span> Indonesian crackers made of prawn and tapioca flour

Prawn crackers are a deep-fried snack made from starch and prawn. They are a common snack food in Southeast Asian cuisine, but they are most closely associated with Indonesia. They have also been adapted into East Asian cuisines, where the similar Japanese kappa ebisen (かっぱえびせん) and Korean saeukkang are popular snacks.

The Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) or European Tobacco Products Directive (EUTPD) (2014/40/EU) is a directive of the European Union which places limits on the sale and merchandising of tobacco and tobacco related products in the EU. The TPD aims to improve the functioning of the internal market for tobacco and related products, while ensuring a high level of health protection for European citizens. Based on the proposal of the European Commission the Directive entered into force on 19 May 2014 and became applicable in the EU Member States on 20 May 2016.

Hedgehog Flavour Crisps were a brand of potato crisps developed by Phillip Lewis, a British pub landlord, in 1981. They were originally sold under the brand name Hedgehog Flavoured Crisps and were produced by Hedgehog Foods. They were withdrawn from sale in 1982 when the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) alleged a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 as the product was flavoured with pork fat and herbs and contained no actual hedgehog. Lewis reached an agreement with the OFT to commission an artificial flavouring and rebrand his product as "Hedgehog Flavour Crisps". The product returned to sale in 1984 and continued to be sold until at least 1994.

References

  1. 1 2 "EURLex – 31991L0071". Eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 Vogel, David (2009). Trading Up: Consumer and Environmental Regulation in a Global Economy. Harvard University Press. p. 43. ISBN   978-0674044685.
  3. 1 2 Oliver, Christian (22 February 2016). "Fact or fiction? Boris Johnson's Euro claims". Financial Times. Retrieved 30 August 2016.(subscription required)
  4. "Chipping Away at British Identity". Philadelphia Daily News. 30 April 1991. Archived from the original on 4 January 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  5. "From the archives". The Herald (archived at PressReader.com). Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  6. Barnard, Catherine (2013). The Substantive Law of the EU: The Four Freedoms. Oxford University Press. p. 659. ISBN   978-0199670765.
  7. Burton, Cathie (2004). Hitting the Headlines in Europe: A Country-by-country Guide to Effective Media Relations. Kogan Page Publishers. p.  24. ISBN   0749442263.
  8. "EC to ban prawn cocktail crips". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  9. "Ism, Ism, Ism". The Thin Blue Line. Series 2. Episode 2. 26 November 1996. 25:55 minutes in. BBC. YouTube video
  10. Johnson, Boris (16 March 2016). "Boris Johnson exclusive: There is only one way to get the change we want – vote to leave the EU". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 28 January 2022.