The words that carry a threshold, and the words that carry an association
Nutrition and health claims sit inside a closed authorisation system. Almost everything else on a front panel does not. How to tell which you are reading.
How a health claim gets authorised, and why most marketing phrases are not claims
Nutrition and health claims sit inside a closed authorisation system. Most front-of-pack wording sits outside it, which changes what it can be held to.
Claims · 10 min readWhat natural means on a food label in the UK
Natural has no general statutory definition in UK food law. What it does have is guidance criteria, and a general rule against misleading consumers.
Claims · 9 min readArtisan, farmhouse, handmade: the words with nothing behind them
A family of pack words carries strong associations and no definition. What governs them, why they persist, and how to read them without cynicism.
Claims · 9 min readFree from: what the claim is about and what it is not
Free from wording covers several very different situations, from a defined legal threshold to an unstandardised business assurance. The differences matter.
Claims · 9 min readGreen claims on food: the code, the Act and what changed
Environmental claims on food are governed by consumer protection law, sharpened by the CMA Green Claims Code and the enforcement powers in the DMCC Act 2024.
Claims · 10 min readFront-of-pack nutrition claims: the legal thresholds
No added sugar, reduced sugar, light, source of fibre and high in protein each have a stated condition to meet. What to check on the pack, and in what order.
Claims · 9 min readUK’s 14 allergens: pack, PPDS and loose food rules
Reference table of the 14 allergens requiring declaration in UK food law, and the differing information rules for prepacked, PPDS and loose food.
Claims · 9 min readHow to complain about a food advert in the UK
A practical guide to preserving evidence, choosing the right UK body and understanding what may happen after a food advert complaint.
Claims · 9 min readE numbers on food labels: UK authorisation and declaration
UK reference guide to E numbers, food-additive authorisation, ingredients-list declarations, colours and label limits.
Claims · 9 min readOrganic food in UK law: labels and certification
A UK reference on what organic means in law, when certification is required, and what shoppers can verify on an organic food pack.
Claims · 11 min readGreat Britain nutrition and health claims register
How to check a Great Britain nutrition or health claim, read conditions of use and understand the on-hold status of botanical claims.
Claims · 9 min readUK food schemes: what each pack mark guarantees
A scheme-by-scheme reference to what familiar UK food pack marks require, verify and leave outside their scope.
Claims · 8 min readThe same words on a different shelf
Several of the rules on this page are not food rules. The CAP code the ASA enforces reaches across consumer goods, and so does the CMA Green Claims Code, so a green claim on a jar of moisturiser is read against the same rules as a green claim on a yoghurt pot, and natural and free from are as undefined in cosmetics as they are in food. For the cosmetics side of the same regime, including how an evidence file is assembled before a claim is printed, see Skin Insider on cosmetics claims and wording.
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One email a fortnight. What changed in food labelling, claims and pricing rules, and one pack phrase taken apart. A sponsor line is carried at the foot of each issue and is labelled as such. It cannot influence a legal status verdict, and the rate card says so in writing.
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