Parliament approves rules to curb fraud in honey, promote higher fruit content in jams

The European Parliament voted on Wednesday (10 April) to improve consumer information on certain ‘breakfast’ foods, including more transparency in the labelling of the origin of honey, new categories for reduced-sugar fruit juices, and an increased fruit content in jams. 

The Parliament approved almost unanimously a revision of four of the so-called “breakfast directives”, introduced in 1999-2001 to set common rules on the marketing standards for certain foods. 

With 622 votes in favour, nine against, and ten abstentions, MEPs from across the political spectrum gave a nod to the agreement reached by negotiators from the European Parliament and Council on 30 January to help consumers make more informed choices.

“These initiatives will ensure that consumers are better informed and that both beekeepers and consumers are better protected against adulterated honey,” the rapporteur on the file, Austrian MEP Alexander Bernhuber (European People’s Party), said after the vote.

Aimed at combating food fraud, the new rules stipulate that honey blends must show the countries of origin and the percentage of each on the label of the jar. Member states can limit the disclosure of the percentage to the four largest shares.

Previously, blends of honeys from different origins were less transparent, being labelled as either “blend of honey from EU and non-EU countries”, “blend of honey originating from the EU”, or “blend of honey not originating from the EU”.

The European Commission presented a proposal to increase transparency in honey and other foodstuffs in April 2023, after a study revealed that 46% of honey imported into the EU was suspected of not complying with the bloc’s legislation.

The legislation will be formally adopted once it has been green-lighted by the Council, in the next weeks.

Reduced sugar

Meanwhile, to respond to the growing demand for “reduced-sugar” products, new rules set three new categories for fruit juices: “reduced-sugar fruit juice”, “reduced-sugar fruit juice from concentrate”, and “concentrated reduced-sugar fruit juice”.

Food operators will also be allowed to use the label fruit juice when containing “only naturally occurring sugars”.

For fruit jams, the minimum fruit content in jams will be increased from 350 to 450 grams per kilo for jams and from 450 to 500 grams for extra jams. 

The revised rules also include allowing the use of treatments to produce lactose-free dehydrated milk products.

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro and Zoran Radosavljevic]

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