Origin’Info – Consumer associations condemn logo as still strictly voluntary – Action UFC-Que Choisir


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Information on origin

Minister Olivia Grégoire today announced the creation of a new logo aimed at informing consumers about the origin of the ingredients in their food: Origin’Info. CLCV, Familles Rurales, foodwatch and UFC-Que Choisir participated in the negotiations. Here is their reaction.

Consumers are increasingly looking for information about the origin of ingredients used in food. It is also a great demand that was raised by farmers during demonstrations in early 2024. This labeling transparency is necessary for several reasons: consumer concerns related to the health quality of ingredients, the desire to support more “local”, ecological and socio-economic impacts.

For the associations CLCV, Familles Rurales, foodwatch and UFC-Que Choisir: “The initiative proposed by the Government can only be a starting point. It is necessary to bring to the European level the obligation to mark the origin of processed products, more precisely on a non-materialized medium.

While the four associations welcome the government’s more transparent approach as a necessary starting point, they nevertheless note three main points of disagreement:

1. Access is voluntary

Currently, shelf brands already list the origin of ingredients for most of their references, while other brands barely do so (1). The transparency or opacity of the origin is therefore not due to technical reasons suffered by the operators, but rather to the choice of the manufacturer.

A purely voluntary approach will therefore not improve transparency as brands with multiple, variable or remote sourcing policies will not be incentivized to demonstrate greater transparency or change their practices.

2. Manufacturers will be able to dematerialize information using a QR code on the product

The limited time that consumers have to shop in stores (a few seconds per product) requires that information be immediately visible and available at the time of purchase. Dematerialized information cannot fulfill this requirement. First, a significant part of consumers does not have a smartphone (23% of the population – source INSEE). In addition, there is notoriously poor mobile network coverage at points of sale. Ultimately, the need to operate a phone and then search for information remotely makes obtaining information particularly tedious and will turn consumers away from using QR codes. This is why we refuse to allow operators to only provide origin information via a QR code.

3. The accuracy of the information about the origin leaves something to be desired

The Origin’Info logo must not be satisfied with indicating the origin of only three basic ingredients (2) the obligation must be extended to the origin of other characteristic food ingredients, regardless of their weight and weight, if they are highlighted by the manufacturer on the product packaging.

It is important to emphasize that we support the principle of banning supranational references (EU, non-EU, EU/non-EU) that do not inform consumers. On the other hand, we oppose the exemption granted to ingredients from more than three different sources. Indeed, no technical justification can be given for this exemption since manufacturers can perfectly indicate the exact origin of each batch by inkjet printing on the packaging since the product’s fishing zones are currently mentioned.

Finally, the current version states that the manufacturers ” guests » to determine the weight importance of each ingredient using a percentage. We reject that here too this precise method of information purely voluntary and left to the manufacturer’s discretion. This is why we ask that the ingredients be presented in descending order of weight and that the exact ratio is systematically stated in percentages. In case of variability of the share depending on the production batches, the percentages can be displayed by inkjet printing. This condition is necessary in order to avoid misleading the consumer by showing “French origin” which would actually represent a very backward part of the product.

In the context of the European legislative elections, if associations welcome the ambition carried by Minister Olivia Grégoire, we would like to remind that informing consumers is a right and that one should not leave it to the good will of consumers. The minister’s determination to bring the obligation to mark the origin of processed products to the European level in 2025 is important.


(2) The primary ingredient is defined as an ingredient that makes up 50% or more of the food composition or an ingredient(s) that consumers usually associate with the name of that food.​​​​



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