To keep up with the changes on the EU food market and enable consumers to eat healthy, the European Parliament approved a revision of existing rules on the composition, labelling and production of honey, fruit juices, jams, marmalades and milk. The revision of EU’s breakfast directives should lead to stricter rules for labelling honey, increased fruit content in jams, less sugar in fruit juices, and the possibility to produce lactose-free milk with water partly or completely removed.

Honey

Under the new rules, it will not be enough to indicate if honey comes from the EU. It will be obligatory to list the countries of origin, in descending order, together with what percentage of the product comes from them. As there are concerns that some producers might add sugar to honey products, the EU wants to improve controls and develop detection methods. It will also introduce a traceability system that can trace honey back to a particular beekeeper or importer.

Fruit Juices

EU rules already make a distinction between fruit nectars, which can contain added sugar, and fruit juices which cannot. However, many Europeans are not aware of the difference. That is why fruit juices will be allowed to say on their labels that they contain “only naturally occurring sugars”.

If at least 30% of the naturally occurring sugars is removed, juices can be labelled as “reduced-sugar fruit juice”. Producers who would like to put this text on the label cannot use sweeteners to compensate and change taste, texture or quality of these products.

Jams and Marmalades

Minimum fruit content in jams will increase, which means there will be less sugar in them. Jams will have to have at least 450 grammes of fruit content per kilogram (before it was 350 grammes), while high-quality “extra jams” will have 500 grammes of fruit content per kilogram (before it was 450 grammes). The term marmalade is currently used only for citrus jams, but with the new rules, it will be possible to use it for any fruit jams, in line with local traditions.

Dehydrated milk

The EU will authorise the production of dehydrated milk products with reduced level of lactose. Dehydrated milk covers various types of milk that have reduced water content and may even be in solid form.

The breakfast directives that are currently in place regulate the description, definition, characteristics and labelling of different food products: cocoa and chocolate products, sugars, honey, fruit juices, dehydrated milk, coffee, chicory extracts, fruit jams, jellies, marmalades and sweetened chestnut purée. The EU introduced them to standardise rules in all EU countries, protect consumers and avoid unfair competition. The existing rules are more than 20 years old, so in April 2023 the European Commission proposed their update. Parliament and Council reached a deal on changing four of the seven breakfast directives in January 2024. Parliament approved the deal in April 2024. The new legislation enters into force 20 days after its formal adoption. EU countries have to apply the new rules within two years.