FSA warning over misleading terms

Restaurateurs and pub landlords will face prosecution unless they put a stop to the sloppy and misleading use of words such as "fresh", "traditional" and "home-made" on their menus.

Following the publication of a two-year study, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced that all offending menus and packaging by food manufacturers must be changed by October.

Spot checks will be made by local authority environmental health and trading standards officers.

An FSA spokesman said: "If a menu says ‘home-made apple pie' and the trading standards officer goes into the kitchen to find prepacked frozen pies, or the menu says ‘traditional roast beef dinner' and it contains preservatives and additives, then clearly the customer is being misled."

The report says there is no place in food labelling for the term "country-style" and the description "farmhouse" should be used sparingly.

Research showed that three-quarters of consumers find adjectives such as "fresh", "natural", and "pure" misleading.

Ian McKerracher, chief executive of the Restaurant Association, supported the move. He said: "It is in no one's interest for a restaurant to make false claims that it cannot fulfil."

Rosemary Morrison, director of special projects and a member of the technical advisory group at the HCIMA, added: "We applaud the FSA for bringing this to caterers' attention and reminding them that it is an offence to falsely describe food that is sold to the public."

by Ben Walker