Where does my food come from?' Origin labelling on food

In recent years, European consumers have developed an interest in knowing the origin of the food they buy. Some industry players have already recognised this as a marketing opportunity and have started labelling the origin of their products with indications like "made in" or "product of". This also multiplies the number of food labels, symbols, flags or pictures which can indirectly imply or suggest a particular origin. 

Most processed food products are missing information on their origin, which the EU food labelling legislation is aiming to improve. To provide data on consumer expectations, BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation commissioned a survey in four EU countries (Austria, France, Poland and Sweden) to both:

• investigate consumers’ general interest in origin labelling compared to a range of other factors;
• evaluate consumers’ understanding of, and preferences for origin labelling on various food products.