Gloucestershire County Council’s Trading Standards is supporting local food producers to comply with a new law on food additive warnings.

The law has been changed to ensure warnings are given on a number of artificial additives about their potential effects on children’s behaviour, after research found a link to hyperactivity and lack of attention span.

The additives are types of artificial food colouring and are found in many sweets, cakes and drinks. The new law, which came into force across the EU on July 20th, now requires any food and drink containing any of the six named colours, except drinks with more than 1.2% alcohol, to bear the warning: 'May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children'.

All businesses need to ensure these warnings are given and can be easily seen to comply with the new law. Food and drink produced before 20th July can continue to be marketed, so it may take time for newly labelled products to appear on shelves.

Previously, all the additives had to be marked by name and/or with their own E number. This would be found on an ingredients list on packaged foods. This will continue but the new warning will also need to be included on the packaging.

In Gloucestershire, there are around 12,000 businesses involved in the supply of food and Trading Standards is focusing its efforts on around 200 food producers actually based in the county. It will be contacting all the small and medium-sized local businesses who package goods and might be affected by the new regulations.

Trading Standards will also continue to help everyone to make informed choices for themselves by giving them advice about what is in our food and what all the labelling means.

On its VISION (Virtual Interactive Shopping Information ONline) website at www.visionfoodhall.com you can take up the ‘Are You Balanced?’ Challenge and go shopping in a virtual food hall. The hall contains more than 130 different foods on shelves or counters, each with their own pop-up ‘food label’ containing information about fat, salt and sugar levels as represented by the Food Standards Agency traffic light system.

Eddie Coventry, Head of Gloucestershire County Council’s Trading Standards, said: “Parents will make their own choices about what they give their children to eat and drink but it’s important to know what’s in our food and what all the labelling means. Our role at Trading Standards is to ensure that customers know what to look out for so that they can make informed choices.

“This new law means there will now be a clear warning on all products containing certain artificial colours, and we will be making sure food producers in Gloucestershire are aware of the new regulations and comply with them.”

Cllr Will Windsor-Clive, Gloucestershire County Council cabinet member with responsibility for Trading Standards, said: “It can be tough for small local companies to keep up to date with all of the regulations around food labelling, so that’s where our Trading Standards team focuses its support. Its help and advice can be invaluable to small firms, who do not have the resources of large producers.”

Businesses can get more information about the labelling required on food and drink at www.tradingstandards.gov.uk