Label rules to cover biggest brands

With most supermarkets having already agreed voluntarily to clean up country-of-origin information on their own products, the Tories are turning their attention to other producers.

Some household name brands have been accused of misleading labelling which passes off imported, low-quality imported food as much higher-grade homegrown produce.

The Government pledge to extend the campaign for simple labelling marks a further boost for the Yorkshire Post's Clearly British campaign which has been fighting for several years to stop consumers being misled.

While in opposition, the Conservatives announced Tesco and Morrisons had signed up to the party's Honest Food campaign which called for labels to say where imported food is used.

This includes clearer information on any products where the meat content is 10 per cent or higher, and the replacement of the phrase "Produced in the UK" with "Made in the UK with meat from X" when a product is manufactured in the UK but contains non-British meat.

Now in government, new Farming Minster Jim Paice has revealed he is "optimistic" a deal can be reached with all supermarkets without the need for changing the law but he made clear that well-known brands also needed to change the way they present food on shop shelves.

"One of the big challenges is to move it beyond own-label, at the moment the deal we got in opposition with supermarkets is predominantly for their own label products," he said.

"A big challenge is going to be to persuade them to start demanding of their suppliers, branded products."

Last year, as part of their Honest Food campaign, the Conservatives released a dossier of well-known brands they claimed were misleading shoppers.

It included Birds Eye chicken and roast beef dinners, part of its "Great British Menu" range, where information on the back of the pack revealed the meat had been imported, and Heinz beans with pork sausages claimed to be "made in England" but the sausages were sourced from "the EU".

Pressure has been mounting on politicians in both Westminster and Brussels to give UK farmers – who often have to follow tighter welfare rules than exist in many other countries, increasing their production costs – a fair deal.

Later this month, MEPs will vote on moves to tighten rules on food labelling across Europe, which would include detailing where animals were born, reared and slaughtered and giving the country of origin whenever its absence is "likely to mislead consumers".

The Women's Institute has also passed a motion calling for the mandatory clear labelling of all meat, poultry and fish with its true country of origin.

"Lack of clear and accurate labelling prevents customers making informed choices," said the WI.

National Farmers' Union vice president Gwyn Jones said: "Labelling needs to provide accurate, clear and relevant information so consumers can make informed choices. It is clear that the current guidelines aren't working.

"However, there is still a lot of work to be done before MEPs next vote, as I'm sure the labelling laws will be challenged strongly by others in the EU."