The European Parliament on Wednesday approved the “breakfast directives”, namely the provisional agreement with the Council on updated rules for the composition, name, labeling and presentation of certain breakfast foods, by 603 votes to 9. and 10 abstinences.

The new rules aim to combat imports of adulterated honey from third countries, through the mandatory and clear labeling of the country of origin, while they will also initiate the creation of a system to record the commercial route of the product.

At the same time, there will be clearer labeling regarding the sugar content of fruit juices, as well as the minimum fruit content in jams.

A large proportion of honey imported from outside the EU is suspected of being adulterated with sugar and remains undetected on the EU market (Commission 2021). In order to combat such fraud and better inform consumers, it was agreed that it should be mandatory to clearly state in the same field of view as the product name, the countries where the honey comes from instead of just whether it comes from the EU or not, something that is true today for honey mixes. The percentages of honey originating from at least the first four countries of origin must also be reported. If this does not represent more than half of the total honey, the percentages must be reported for all countries.

Following feasibility studies and to further reduce fraud, the Commission will propose a unique identification code or similar technique to enable the honey to be traced to beekeepers. It was also agreed that an EU expert platform should be set up to collect data to improve controls, detect honey adulteration and to make recommendations for an EU traceability system that allows honey to be traced back to the producer or importer that harvests.

For fruit juices and jams, the Commission will draw up a report assessing the mandatory labeling in the country of origin of the fruit used within 36 months of the entry into force of this Directive accompanied by a legislative proposal if necessary.

Labeling of contents of juices and jams

For jams in particular, the general rule will be that at least 450 grams of fruit should be used to produce 1 kg of jam.

Based on Parliament’s proposal, it was agreed that the label ‘contains only natural sugars’ should be allowed for fruit juices. In addition, to meet the growing demand for low sugar products, it has been agreed that reformulated fruit juices can be labeled ‘reduced sugar fruit juice’ if at least 30% of the natural sugars have been removed. However, producers may not use sweeteners to compensate for the effect of sugar reduction on the taste, texture and quality of the final product.

The new set of rules must now be approved by the Council before being published in the EU’s Official Journal and coming into force 20 days later. EU countries must have implemented the new rules two years after they come into force.

The revision of EU marketing standards for the ‘breakfast guidelines’ was proposed by the European Commission on 21 April 2023, aiming to update the existing standards set more than 20 years ago.