Naslov
The assessment of compliance of organic food labeling with the existing legislative framework on the Croatian market – comparison with the status before Croatian accession to the European Union

Autori
Lušić, Dražen ; Lovrović, Maša ; Čendak, Ivana ; Gržinčić, Bojana ; Majetić Germek, Valerija ; Vukić Lušić, Darija

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Archives of Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology 2017 ; 68(Suppl. 1) / Kopjar, Nevenka ; Brčić Karačonji, Irena ; Macan, Jelena ; Šostar, Zvonimir - Zagreb : Institut za medicinska istraživanja i medicinu rada, 2017, 37-37

Skup
Food Safety and Quality Congress with international participation, “New Achievements and Future Challenges”

Mjesto i datum
Opatija, Hrvatska, 21.11.2017. - 24.11.2017

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Food business operators, nutritional value, tags

Sažetak
Food labeling represents basic communication between food business operators and consumers. It is an important part of marketing and a part of the information and consumer protection system. Besides general food labeling legal requirements, organic food must comply with specific legislation pertinent only to organic food. In this study, the labels of 164 (2017 study) and 123 (2013 study) organic food products were assessed as to their compliance with the existing legal framework (Croatian, EU), based on a meticulously elaborated evaluation form. The analyzed products were divided into two categories - processed and unprocessed organic foods because of the fact that certain labeling parameters (nutritional value, ingredient list) are related only to processed food. The results of 2017 were compared with the results of the comparable earlier (2013) research (before Croatia joined the EU). The results showed that only 9.8 % of the evaluated organic labels fulfilled completely the food labeling requirements. Furthermore, a decrease of 0.9 % in noncomplying labels was observed when compared to the earlier 2013 study, when only 8.9 % of the evaluated organic labels fulfilled all the labeling requirements. Most common errors included the improper labeling materials (hags, tags), only partial information about addresses of food business operators, lack of the nutrition declaration, improper lot number, non-translated place of origin of organically grown ingredients, and omission of data about the quantity of organically produced ingredients. The 2017 results confirmed that the most frequent reason of labeling non-compliance was the choice of unsuitable labeling material which made the labels illegible (27.4 %). Non-compliances reflected also the negligence in the translation of nutrition declarations (13.6 %), place of origin of organically grown ingredients (49.4 %), as well as in the misuse of non-permitted labeling words for organic product as a replacement for the permitted words “eco”, “bio”, and “organic”. The full extent of the observed results will be showed as well as the recommendations about potential improvements in the future labeling procedures.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Javno zdravstvo i zdravstvena zaštita, Prehrambena tehnologija, Nutricionizam

POVEZANOST RADA