ABSTRACT
There is growing interest and awareness of the importance of diet for maintaining health. Consumers are increasingly concerned to know about the nutritional composition of the food they eat. The Commission took the view that knowledge of the basic principle of good nutrition and the appropriate nutrition labelling of foods would enable consumers to make better informed choices about the food they purchased. For these reasons, and in order to facilitate the operation of the internal market, it was decided that nutrition labelling should be presented in a standardised form throughout the EC. All forms of nutrition labelling which did not conform to the Directive would be prohibited. Food products which did not carry any nutrition label would be allowed to circulate freely within the EC. The rules contained in this Directive reflected the Codex Alimentarius guidelines on nutrition labelling. The Directive also took account of the rules contained in the framework Directive 79/112 and its subsequent amendments.
