Trading standards

I am always keen to take advantage of training opportunities, so it is no surprise that I registered for a workshop that included nutrition labelling, offered by Trading Standards, through the Devon & Somerset Partnership.

17 of us attended the session, the majority, like myself, had their own small businesses, but many were working as environmental health officers for local authorities.

From Dec. 2016, nutritional labelling became mandatory for the majority of pre-packed foods. Thankfully, one of the key exemptions is unprocessed single ingredient foods. All the more reason then, to shop in our local farmers’ markets and independent shops rather than line the pockets of supermarkets.

I discovered that, ‘handcrafted food directly supplied by the manufacturer of small quantities of the product to the final consumer or to local retail establishments directly supplying the final consumer’ are exempt from labelling. Unpicking the legislative gobbledegook, in reality this means a business with less than 10 employees and a turnover of less than £1.72m., where their products are sold in the same county as the manufacturer, or in an adjoining county if within 35 miles of the county border. Phew.

Shoppers will by now be well used to the mandatory labelling on food packaging, giving details of what are termed the ‘big 7’, which includes details of energy, fat, carbohydrates, protein and salt …. per 100g. The format in which this is presented is strictly regulated, as is the popular, but optional, ‘tombstone’ red, amber, green traffic light system shown on the front of many packages. This is intended to allow the consumer to easily have a direct comparison of key information between products. My main gripe here is that often the suggested quantity of their ‘portion’ sizes are misleading.

Our major supermarkets are also the biggest culprits when it comes to deceiving us. I recently bought something called Chicken Munchies. It stated on the front that I was buying ‘pieces of chicken’, only to find that when I got home, in the small print on the back of the label it stated ‘chicken with water and potato fibre added, and re-formed’; not the same thing at all.

The session also covered permitted health & nutrition claims, which are very strictly regulated, with just 30 claims being approved. I am old enough to remember adverts that claimed ‘Guinness is Good for You’, and ‘A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play’; both claims would no longer be permitted. One of the key issues raised was the difficulty in enforcing online ‘distance selling’ claims that openly flout regulations. Claims such as ‘eat five bananas a day and lose weight’ spring readily to mind.

This is an area that Devon & Somerset have started a project on this year

Whilst the workshop was interesting, what I found of most use was the information available relating to how ordinary everyday people, especially with the rapid advance of technology, can unwittingly be subjected to all kinds of scams and rogue doorstep trading. On a daily basis, the news is full or reports of ‘suckers’ lists’ of those particularly prone to fall for scams. Most often it is the elderly who are targeted. I came away with a handful of ‘No cold callers’ stickers, which can be useful if for no other reason than that if someone does knock on a door displaying such a sticker they are immediately committing an offence. I am also in the process of arranging a training session locally to highlight key areas that we all need to be aware of in order to avoid being victims.

Quite by chance, in the following week I was contacted by a local business owner who was tearing his hair out, having been subjected to credit card fraud. His main frustration was that he could find no official authority that was willing to help or advise.