The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) recently had to mediate in a case relating to food labelling between the company Upfield Hungary and the Hungarian government.
Hungary required this food company to amend the labelling of a margarine, as the company had used the name Vitamin A y Vitamin D, rather than vitamin supplements.
The Supreme Court of Hungary, aware that food labelling must comply with EU regulations, referred the matter to the CJEU: specifically, it asked the European court to rule, on the basis of the applicable legislation, whether the list of ingredients for that margarine product «must include, in addition to the names of vitamins in question, as well as the appointment of the vitamin supplements »specifically used’
The CJEU’s response, published at the end of March 2022, has made it clear exactly how the presence of any vitamin must be indicated on a food’s list of ingredients. Consequently, this criterion must be taken into account when labelling all foods that contain vitamins amongst their ingredients.
Would you like to know what the CJEU’s verdict was? !Read more!
The CJEU’s ruling: vitamins in the list of ingredients of a food product
Whilst it is true that, until now, no European court had ruled on how vitamins forming part of a food product should be listed, it is also true that the ruling handed down by the CJEU differs somewhat from current practice. This is because, until now, generally speaking, food labelling used to list vitamins in the ingredients list by their vitamin formula.
In other words, the Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the food information provided to consumers It does not specify to manufacturers how they should inform consumers of the presence of vitamins in the list of ingredients: And what we used to find on the market in the list of ingredients for a food product was not the name Vitamin A, but rather that of one of its vitamin supplements (in the case examined by the CJEU, these would be retinol y carotenoids for the Vitamin A, ergocalciferol y cholecalciferol for the Vitamin D).
It was probably for that reason that the Hungarian authorities they asked the manufacturer include the names of these vitamin supplements, rather than the generic terms ‘vitamins A and D’. And it stands to reason that the High Court of Hungary, as this is a matter of EU law, it should not interpret it at its own discretion and make a decision, but should refer the matter to the European courts.
However, following the response from the Court of Justice of the EU, The Hungarian authorities must refrain from proposing changes to the labelling of Upfield Hungary’s margarine…
On the referral from the Hungarian Supreme Court: a criterion for food labelling in the EU
Primarily, the TCourt of Justice of the European Union has reviewed the legislation on food labelling. And on that basis, the CJEU has provided an answer to the High Court of Hungary, which sets out two guidelines that we must take into account from now on in order to label food products correctly:
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- If a vitamin is added to a foodstuff, it must must be included in the list of ingredients that must appear on the product’s label.
- The list of ingredients for a food product containing a vitamin does not have to specify the particular vitamin formulation used.
- Please note: the CJEU has ruled that, for the purposes of its inclusion in the nutritional information relating to a foodstuff (which must appear on the label alongside the list of ingredients), the Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the food information provided to consumers refers to vitamins by names such as «Vitamin A», «Vitamin D» or «Vitamin E».
Following the ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU, therefore, two things should be clear to us. Firstly, that Whenever we include vitamins amongst the ingredients of a food product, this must be reflected in its list of ingredients. And secondly, that The correct way to name the vitamins in the list of ingredients should be the name of the vitamin (Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B12…).
It is therefore not necessary, in addition to stating that the standard name for the vitamin -which is the one consumers are most familiar with- the following should be indicated: vitamin supplements specifically used, as food and dietary supplement companies have been doing up to now.
Do you have questions about the labelling of your products from food o dietary supplements? Get in touch!
Vitamins: vitamin names versus vitamin formulae
In the case of vitamins, it’s much the same as in many other branches of science. The general public are aware that they exist and have a rough idea of what our bodies use them for, but there is a technical vocabulary, used by the food industry experts, to which he is unlikely to have access.
And that lack of awareness amongst the general public, according to the CJEU ruling, would include the vitamin supplements, which are the various forms in which the vitamin is found in nature – and which, therefore, enable a food expert to determine the origin of the vitamin used in the manufacture of a product. However, under EU law, these will not be of much use to the a reasonably well-informed consumer -which is how the European Commission classifies its citizens- to whom these explanations are supposedly addressed.
To help this reasonably well-informed consumer understand food ingredient lists, we have drawn up a simple conversion table listing the names of certain vitamins and vitamin supplements, which you can find below.
We hope you find this table useful:
| Name of the vitamin | Vitamin Formula | Origin |
| Vitamin A | Retinol | Carrots, spinach, offal, parsley, butter, sweet potatoes, tuna, cheese and vegetables |
| Vitamin A | Beta-carotene | |
| Vitamin B1 | Thiamine | Eggs, beef and pork, peanuts, pulses, hazelnuts, walnuts, garlic |
| Vitamin B2 | Riboflavin | Wheat germ, almonds, eggs, coconut, mushrooms, lentils |
| Vitamin B3 | Niacin | Almonds, mushrooms, wheat germ, brown rice, calf’s liver |
| Vitamin B5 | Pantothenic acid | Wholemeal cereals, egg yolk, offal, brewer’s yeast |
| Vitamin B6 | Pyrodoxine | Walnuts, sardines, pulses, chicken, offal, bananas, tuna, hazelnuts. |
| Vitamin B12 | Cyanocobalamin | Eggs, dairy products, food of animal origin. |
| Vitamin C | L-Ascorbic acid | Lemon, orange, kiwi, guava, strawberry, red pepper, parsley, cauliflower, spinach |
| Vitamin D | Ergocalciferol | |
| Vitamin D | Cholecalciferol |