- Latest available (Revised)
- Point in Time (31/12/2020)
- Original (As adopted by EU)
Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004 (Text with EEA relevance)
When the UK left the EU, legislation.gov.uk published EU legislation that had been published by the EU up to IP completion day (31 December 2020 11.00 p.m.). On legislation.gov.uk, these items of legislation are kept up-to-date with any amendments made by the UK since then.
Legislation.gov.uk publishes the UK version. EUR-Lex publishes the EU version. The EU Exit Web Archive holds a snapshot of EUR-Lex’s version from IP completion day (31 December 2020 11.00 p.m.).
Point in time view as at 31/12/2020.
There are currently no known outstanding effects for the Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council, CHAPTER III.
Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. At the current time any known changes or effects made by subsequent legislation have been applied to the text of the legislation you are viewing by the editorial team. Please see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ for details regarding the timescales for which new effects are identified and recorded on this site.
Any food intended for supply to the final consumer or to mass caterers shall be accompanied by food information in accordance with this Regulation.
1.Food information shall not be misleading, particularly:
(a)as to the characteristics of the food and, in particular, as to its nature, identity, properties, composition, quantity, durability, country of origin or place of provenance, method of manufacture or production;
(b)by attributing to the food effects or properties which it does not possess;
(c)by suggesting that the food possesses special characteristics when in fact all similar foods possess such characteristics, in particular by specifically emphasising the presence or absence of certain ingredients and/or nutrients;
(d)by suggesting, by means of the appearance, the description or pictorial representations, the presence of a particular food or an ingredient, while in reality a component naturally present or an ingredient normally used in that food has been substituted with a different component or a different ingredient.
2.Food information shall be accurate, clear and easy to understand for the consumer.
3.Subject to derogations provided for by [F1EU-derived domestic law or retained direct EU legislation] applicable to natural mineral waters and foods for particular nutritional uses, food information shall not attribute to any food the property of preventing, treating or curing a human disease, nor refer to such properties.
4.Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall also apply to:
(a)advertising;
(b)the presentation of foods, in particular their shape, appearance or packaging, the packaging materials used, the way in which they are arranged and the setting in which they are displayed.
Textual Amendments
F1Words in Art. 7(3) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Food (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/529), regs. 1, 5(6); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)
1.The food business operator responsible for the food information shall be the operator under whose name or business name the food is marketed or, if that operator is not established in the Union, the importer into the Union market.
2.The food business operator responsible for the food information shall ensure the presence and accuracy of the food information in accordance with the applicable food information law and requirements of [F2any other relevant enactment].
3.Food business operators which do not affect food information shall not supply food which they know or presume, on the basis of the information in their possession as professionals, to be non-compliant with the applicable food information law and requirements of [F2any other relevant enactment].
4.Food business operators, within the businesses under their control, shall not modify the information accompanying a food if such modification would mislead the final consumer or otherwise reduce the level of consumer protection and the possibilities for the final consumer to make informed choices. Food business operators are responsible for any changes they make to food information accompanying a food.
5.Without prejudice to paragraphs 2 to 4, food business operators, within the businesses under their control, shall ensure compliance with the requirements of food information law and [F3any other relevant enactment] which are relevant to their activities and shall verify that such requirements are met.
6.Food business operators, within the businesses under their control, shall ensure that information relating to non-prepacked food intended for the final consumer or for supply to mass caterers shall be transmitted to the food business operator receiving the food in order to enable, when required, the provision of mandatory food information to the final consumer.
7.In the following cases, food business operators, within the businesses under their control, shall ensure that the mandatory particulars required under Articles 9 and 10 shall appear on the prepackaging or on a label attached thereto, or on the commercial documents referring to the foods where it can be guaranteed that such documents either accompany the food to which they refer or were sent before or at the same time as delivery:
(a)where prepacked food is intended for the final consumer but marketed at a stage prior to sale to the final consumer and where sale to a mass caterer is not involved at that stage;
(b)where prepacked food is intended for supply to mass caterers for preparation, processing, splitting or cutting up.
Notwithstanding the first subparagraph, food business operators shall ensure that the particulars referred to in points (a), (f), (g) and (h) of Article 9(1) also appear on the external packaging in which the prepacked foods are presented for marketing.
8.Food business operators that supply to other food business operators food not intended for the final consumer or to mass caterers shall ensure that those other food business operators are provided with sufficient information to enable them, where appropriate, to meet their obligations under paragraph 2.
Textual Amendments
F2Words in Art. 8(2)(3) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Food (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/529), regs. 1, 5(7); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)
F3Words in Art. 8(5) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Food (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/529), regs. 1, 5(7); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)
The Whole Regulation you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
Latest Available (revised):The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area.
Original (As adopted by EU): The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was first adopted in the EU. No changes have been applied to the text.
Point in Time: This becomes available after navigating to view revised legislation as it stood at a certain point in time via Advanced Features > Show Timeline of Changes or via a point in time advanced search.
Geographical Extent: Indicates the geographical area that this provision applies to. For further information see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.
Show Timeline of Changes: See how this legislation has or could change over time. Turning this feature on will show extra navigation options to go to these specific points in time. Return to the latest available version by using the controls above in the What Version box.
Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
This timeline shows the different versions taken from EUR-Lex before exit day and during the implementation period as well as any subsequent versions created after the implementation period as a result of changes made by UK legislation.
The dates for the EU versions are taken from the document dates on EUR-Lex and may not always coincide with when the changes came into force for the document.
For any versions created after the implementation period as a result of changes made by UK legislation the date will coincide with the earliest date on which the change (e.g an insertion, a repeal or a substitution) that was applied came into force. For further information see our guide to revised legislation on Understanding Legislation.
Use this menu to access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
Click 'View More' or select 'More Resources' tab for additional information including: