The UK Food and Hospitality Industries in 2022: Dates for your Diary
We’ve looked ahead at what’s on the horizon for the UK food and hospitality industries in 2022 and rounded up the key points to help you prepare.
Titanium Dioxide (E171) is used as a colourant in a variety of products including chewing gum, pastries, food supplements and soups.
EU Member States have approved the European Commission’s proposal to ban the use of Titanium Dioxide as a food additive from 2022. It is already banned in France.
Currently, the UK is not enforcing this ban, but if you use this additive and export your products to the EU, you’ll need to reformulate to beat the ban.
To help mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic, the hospitality and tourism sectors saw a reduction in VAT to 5%, which then increased to 12.5% from 1st October 2021. This will end on 31st March 2022 and VAT will go back to its usual rate of 20%.
As part of the government’s aims to reduce obesity, the sale of food and drink products that are high in saturated fat, salt and/or sugar (HFSS) will be impacted by new legislation coming in on 1st April 2022.
Figures from the Department of Health and Social Care state that sales promotions are encouraging us to buy more unhealthy options, and that “special offers” can lead us to buy 20% more than we need.
Included in the new legislation are restrictions on retailers offering ‘volume
promotions’ on HFSS products (such as buy-one-get-one-free, 50% extra free or
3 for 2).
In another initiative from the government’s strategy to combat obesity, all
restaurants with more than 250 employees will need to label the calories of each
dish on their menus.
This new tax will apply to plastic packaging manufactured in, or imported into the UK, that does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic. Plastic packaging is defined as packaging that is predominantly plastic by weight.
It will not apply to any plastic packaging which contains at least 30% recycled plastic, or any packaging which is not predominantly plastic by weight.
Manufacturers and importers of less than 10 tonnes of plastic packaging per year
will be exempt from the tax.
Imported plastic packaging will be liable to the tax, whether the packaging is
unfilled or filled.
You can continue to use an EU or UK address for the FBO on pre-packaged food
or caseins sold in Britain until 30th September 2022.
From 1 October 2022 onwards, pre-packaged food or caseins must include a UK
address for the FBO. If the FBO is not in the UK, include the address of your importer.
Food from and sold in Northern Ireland (NI) can continue to use Origin EU from 1st January 2021.
Food from and sold in Great Britain can be labelled as Origin EU until 30th September 2022.
From 1st October 2022, food from Great Britain must not be labelled as Origin EU.
Minced meat sold in NI can refer to EU and non-EU when the label does not list
each country of origin from 1st January 2021.
For minced meat sold in Great Britain, you can continue to refer to EU and non-
EU until 30th September 2022.
From 1st October 2022, you must use non-UK or UK and non-UK when the label
does not list each country of origin.
Minced meat sold in NI can refer to EU and non-EU when the label does not list each country of origin from 1st January 2021.
For minced meat sold in Great Britain, you can continue to refer to EU and non-EU until 30th September 2022.
From 1st October 2022, you must use non-UK or UK and non-UK when the label does not list each country of origin.
For mixes of fruit and vegetable sold in NI, you can refer to EU and non-EU when the label does not list each country of origin.
If you’re part of the Approved Trader Scheme in NI, you can continue to use the EU Approved Trader Scheme label.
For mixes of fruit and vegetables sold in Great Britain, you can continue to refer to EU and non-EU until 30th September 2022.
From 1st October 2022, you must use non-UK or UK and non-UK when the label does not list each country of origin.
If you are part of the Approved Trader Scheme in Great Britain, you must remove the EU emblem from your UK food labels and use the replacement GB label from 1st January 2021. You should only sell your existing stock with the EU emblem in Britain until it runs out.
Olive oil blends sold in NI can refer to EU and non-EU when the label does not list each country or origin from 1st January 2021.
From 1st October 2022, you can’t use the term non-EU for olive oil blends sold in GB. If your extra virgin or virgin olive oil is a blend of oils from different countries, the label must contain one of the following:
· list of each country of origin
· the statement ‘blend of olive oil from more than one country’ or similar wording
· the name of the trading bloc to which a regional trade agreement applies, for example ‘blend of olive oils of European Union origin’
From 1st October 2022, you must use ‘blend of honey from more than one country’ (or similar wording) if you decide not to list each country of origin.
For beef and veal sold in Great Britain, you can refer to non-EU until 30th September 2022. However, from 1st October 2022, you must use non-UK when the full individual country information is not available.
You can continue to mark eggs that do not meet domestic egg trade regulations as non-EC standard or non-UK standard until 30th September 2022.
From 1st October 2022, these eggs should be marked as non-UK standard.
At the time of writing, this has not been passed yet, however once in force, it will be a legal requirement for all restaurants to state the allergens and ingredients in their dishes on the face of the menu to eliminate the risk of people with food allergies getting incorrect allergen information.
Many consumers are now expecting businesses in the hospitality sector to engage in at least one of the following sustainable practices:
· Ethically-sourced food and drinks, incorporating seasonal, local, and fair trade ingredients
· Environmentally-friendly packaging
· Reduced carbon footprint
· Donations to social, ethical, or green causes
Research shows that in the last year, 11% of consumers have based their purchases on companies’ environmental claims, and 83% say they consider the environment when making purchasing decisions.
Customers are willing to reward businesses if they see them actively taking part in sustainability by buying products and services.
Sustainability is predicted to be the biggest problem food businesses will face. Trade body UK Hospitality states that 83% of consumers expect food businesses to become more sustainable, 65% expect to see ethically-sourced food, and 5% want environmentally-friendly packaging.
With 91% of leaders seeing sustainability as a central priority, we can expect to see immense changes soon as we work on building a sustainable hospitality sector.
On the 19th of October 2021, the Zero Carbon Forum launched a roadmap designed to give the hospitality industry guidance on decarbonising businesses and strategies to reach net-zero emissions by 2030 for Scope 1 and 2, and 2040 for Scope 3.
The roadmap outlines trends, sector emission hotspots, decarbonisation opportunities and practical steps for setting net-zero goals. This action is aiming to help limit global warming to 1.5oC.
We hope you’ve found this round-up helpful. We’re always happy to answer our clients’ queries – get in touch.