uk food information for consumers laws are changing in 2014 - see how digital menu boards can help...

UK Food Information for Consumer Law Changes 2014

How Digital Menu Boards Can Help Food Businesses Tackle These Changes

Eclipse Digital Media 2014 ©

The countdown begins…


13th December 2014

If you’re in the food industry this is a date you should have firmly in your diary!

For those that aren’t sure as to the significance of that date, it’s the date that the new food informa;on for consumer laws will be introduced into the UK that will require food businesses to provide allergy informa;on on any food sold unpackaged, for example in catering outlets, deli counters, bakeries and sandwich bars.

Link: http://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/guidancenotes/allergy-guide

Why?


These law changes will be enforced in 2014 to comply with the new EU FIR 1169/2011 law on the provision of food informa;on to consumers.

Evidence suggests that most food allergy incidents can be traced back to non-‐prepacked food, therefore informa;on on poten;al allergens should always be provided to the consumer and as such businesses, now need to comply with the regula;on changes by December 2014.

Link: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:304:0018:0063:EN:PDF

What’s Changing in 2014?


So What’s Changing in 2014?


To comply with the new EU FIR 1169/2011 legisla;on, food business must declare to the consumer if there is a food product which contains or uses an ingredient or processing aid derived from one of 14 substances or products, regardless of the level of use, unless the ingredient or processing aid is no longer present in the food in neither its original or altered form.

Find the 14 substances or products on the next slide

So What’s Changing in 2014?


These 14 substances or products are:

1.  Cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut or their hybridised strains)

2.  Crustaceans 3.  Peanut 4.  Egg 5.  Fish 6.  Lupin 7.  Milk 8.  Molluscs 9.  Nuts (almond, hazelnut, walnut, cashew, pecan nut, Brazil nut, pistachio nut and Macadamia nut

10. Soybean 11. Sesame 12. Celery 13. Mustard 14. Sulphur dioxide (>10mg/kg or 10mL/L in ready to eat or recons;tuted products)

Food Standards Agency Advice


All informa;on about ingredients from the list of 14 substances or products, causing allergies and intolerances must be emphasised in a contras;ng font to other ingredients to clearly dis;nguish them from other ingredients. Read more about the requirements of the Food Informa;on Regula;ons.

Advice from the Food Standards Agency suggests that “All mandatory allergen informa=on should be available and be easily accessible to the consumer.”

Link: http://multimedia.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/guidance/defra-draft-guidance-fir-2013.pdf

Hope is not lost…


These law changes have already and will con;nue to cause, many food business owners headache’s with yet more food informa;on needing to be declared to the customer.

In a fast paced environment it can be very difficult to ensure this informa;on will be communicated effec;vely and not to break the law but thankfully there are some tools that can help alleviated some of this stress and concern as well actually improve other areas the business too – and one of those tools is Digital Menu Boards.

How can Digital Menu Boards help?




Speed

The speed at which businesses can update menu informa;on using digital menu boards is a substan;al advantage. Depending on the digital menu board solu;on, changes can be made almost instantly.

Varia;on

Displaying different menu content at different ;mes of day can be achieved easily using scheduling func;onali;es for various digital menu board solu;ons. This provides crea;ve flexibility to not overcrowd your menus with all of your items and their informa;on but segment them into different periods.



Adap;ve

The new regula;on requires a large amount of informa;on to be declared to the customer. By using digital menu boards, it is possible to restructure your menu designs an unlimited number of ;mes to incorporate all of this informa;on.

Future Proof

This is the latest round of food informa;on declara;on law changes but who’s to say that it is not going to change again? By using digital menu boards, your hardware or “real estate” is installed and all you need to do is update the content meaning, no maher what informa;on your business will be required to declare in future, you can meet those requirements much more effec;vely, both in terms of ;me and money.



There are many more benefits to implemen;ng digital menu boards for your food business away, from the food informa;on side, for example, digital menu boards can also help to reduced perceived customer wai;ng ;mes, increase average order values, reduce menu prin;ng costs and increase customer sa;sfac;on amongst others.

Discover more about the benefits of digital menu boards:

hhp://www.eclipsedigitalmedia.co.uk/digital-‐menu-‐board-‐benefits-‐infographic



There are several ways businesses can communicate nutri;onal and allergen informa;on to customers using digital menu boards and below we have highlighted a couple of areas to help provide inspira;on:

Touch screen

Lis;ng your items in an ‘overview’ format and then touch each item to expand into more detailed informa;on about the item including nutri;onal and allergen content. Here is a quick example of how this could poten;ally be applied:

hhps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7suuY21OIQ



Video content

Create animated video content using programs like Aoer Effects, Final Cut and Windows Movie Maker to highlight products and their labelling detail. This will keep customers engaged, watching the content animate but also communicate the labelling informa;on required by law.

Sta;c Image or Text

Generate your menu board informa;on by layering images and/or text fields to display the full labelling informa;on required for each item. This would work well for menus with low number of items. If your business needs to reduce the number of items on a menu due to the amount of informa;on needed to display, then use scheduling func;ons and playlis;ng to rotate content. This will help retain a crea;ve impact and s;ll deliver the important informa;on.



Scrolling Text

Introduce a scrolling text bar at the top or bohom of your digital menu layout to scroll through the list of allergen informa;on related to specific products. Make sure that you iden;fy the products with allergenic informa;on are clearly marked (perhaps graphically with icons) to draw customers’ ahen;on to the allergen informa;on scrolling.

What types of Digital Menu Boards are

there?


What type of Digital Menu Boards?


There are several types of digital menu boards and it is certainly not a “one size fits all” product. In the next few slides we have outlined some of the varie;es available however you can also download the Eclipse Digital Media Guide to Digital Menu Boards 2013.

Look out for the 2014 guide due for release in the coming months and will include further digital menu board products.

hhp://www.eclipsedigitalmedia.co.uk/digital-‐menu-‐boards-‐guide-‐2013



USB Updated All In One Digital Displays

Built in media players, capable of playing looped full screen content of images or movies. Sizes range from 7” to 55” displays from Eclipse Digital Media.

See embed usb digital menu boards for more informa;on. Link: http://www.eclipsedigitalmedia.co.uk/embed-digital-menu-boards/embed-usb-digital-menu-boards



Networked Digital Signage Media Players

IP based media players that run their own built in sooware. Can publish mul; media, mul; zone content to unlimited number of connected subscriber media players. Various levels of media player also include WiFi, DVB-‐T TV cards and HD Capture.

See embed enterprise digital menu boards for more informa;on. Link: http://www.eclipsedigitalmedia.co.uk/embed-digital-menu-boards



Online / Cloud Based Digital Signage Content Management Systems

Online content management plasorm used to create and distribute menu board content to connected media players.

See embed subscrip;on digital menu boards for more informa;on. Link: http://www.eclipsedigitalmedia.co.uk/embed-digital-menu-boards/embed-subscription-digital-menu-boards

Need some Digital Menu Board Advice?


Need Some Advice?


With the new changes, now is the right ;me to act!

Take the ;me to discover how digital menu boards can help your food business, not only meet the ever increasing demands of legisla;on, but also help to improve your opera;onal efficiency, brand percep;on and sales.

If your business needs some advice on what digital menu board solu;on is right for you, please get in touch with your ques;ons and we’ll be happy to help where we can.

Link: http://www.eclipsedigitalmedia.co.uk/contact

Don’t wait too long…


Don’t leave it too late…

remember 13th December 2014

About Eclipse Digital Media


Our Background


Eclipse Digital Media strive to deliver dependable end-to-end digital signage solutions and pride ourselves on creating professional, engaging and unique digital signage content including:

•  Digital Menu Boards •  Weather Activated Content •  Data Dashboards •  Interactive Touch Solutions •  And much, much more…

Our core digital signage services cover all aspects of a digital signage project, giving you a single, reliable provider to deliver your solution effectively:

•  Project Planning •  Hardware & Installation •  Digital Signage Content Creation •  Training, Support & Maintenance

Thank You

For more information about our digital signage solutions, services and content creation please visit our website:

www.eclipsedigitalmedia.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 8450 944 954


uk food information for consumers laws are changing in 2014 - see how digital menu boards can help...

Food

changes eclipse digital

digital menu boards

food businesses

uk food information

consumer law changes

regardlessof ofuse