Background

Digital labelling in the EU - state-of-play report

Published: 11/05/2023

This state of play report has been prepared as part of FoodDrinkEurope’s Action Plan for Sustainable Food Systems, to deepen the understanding of digital labelling. As a starting point, this report takes the Joint Research Centre’s 2022 literature review on means of food information provision other than packaging labels. Desktop research was used to capture the following elements as essential in expanding the evidence based JRC report:

  • Most recent academic (peer-reviewed) research providing insights on digital carriers of information for consumers, specifically the most recent research published after 2018
  • Insights and positions of leading consumer protection organisations on the issue of digital labelling
  • Existing European regulatory frameworks enabling deployment of digital carriers of information and those that are in the pipeline
  • Self-regulated initiatives in the food and drink industry
  • International standards

This report provides an analysis of the digital labelling landscape and is intended to serve as basis for expanding the conversation around policy approaches for all the food and drink industry, in support of a harmonised and coherent approach to digital labelling. The topline findings of the report are summarized just below.