Question

explain the measures to protect the consumers from fraud while buying vegetable or groceries​

Answer 1

Food producers and retailers have a duty to not only ensure food is safe but also to provide information to consumers about foods that is clear, accurate and based on scientific evidence. Legislation prohibits the use of information and claims about food that is misleading. This also ensures fair competition between businesses.

Food labelling is the prime means of informing the consumer about the food they are purchasing. Legislation on food labelling guides producers and retailers and gives consumers rights to basic information, such as ingredients, nutrition, origin and safety information — including storage life, handling, preparation instructions and allergens. The type of information, design of labels (eg size, position and layout of important information) and the wording used are controlled by legislation.

Both the EU and the US specify what wording can be used to make claims about food (eg “low fat”, “high fat”). The EU has a Public Register of Nutrition and Health Claims that lists what is permitted and forbidden.

Food labelling in the EU

In the EU, recent legislation modernised the framework on nutrition information. Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 combines two previous Directives on labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs and nutrition labelling and repeals several others (European Commission, 2016).

The remit of the FIC Regulation is to “serve the interests of the internal market” by:

simplifying the law;

ensuring legal certainty;

reducing administrative burden; and

benefit citizens by requiring clear, comprehensible and legible labelling of foods.