UKH outlines guidance for calorie labelling legislation

UKHospitality has produced guidance on the new calorie labelling legislation, due to be implemented this April.

It is intended to help affected businesses and to ensure consistent enforcement post-April and is therefore available to anyone in the sector, not just UKHospitality members.

The guidance has been compiled in conjunction with the UKHospitality Nutrition Group and covers a digestible summary of the legislation as well as answers to FAQs (frequently asked questions). UKH said the advice will be “updated on a rolling basis as additional queries and details emerge:

The document covers such questions as:

• Which foods and business are exempt from the requirements
• Examples of food and meals that will need to display calorie information
• How the legislation affects franchised businesses and tied pubs
• What calorie information must be shown, and how it must be displayed.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: “These new rules come into force at a very challenging time for our industry. Not only are businesses battling a workforce crisis and operating cost pressures – at the same time as managing crippling debt levels and depleted cash reserves – this April will see the triple whammy of a rise in VAT, business rates, and labour costs.

“While working to ensure the sector is prepared and able to comply with the new guidance, we at UKHospitality are working hard to press the case for a delay in implementation and a light touch on enforcement of the rules post-April.”