On Thursday Huw Merriman MP for Battle and Bexhill took part in a Food Labelling conversation in the House of Commons with Victoria Prentis who is the Government Minister of State for Farming, Fisheries and Food and the MP for Banbury. His question was very sensible but the answer was based on a view that people would be able to use their phones when they are buying items to check out pieces of labelling issues in the shops.

The question and answer session can be obtained from here and the text is shown below. My own view is that buying items needs text to provide information as many people are not able to check the QR codes. Perhaps Huw could let us know if he agrees with Victoria. Here is the the text:

Huw Merriman: We know that our consumers want to buy British and buy Northern Irish to support higher animal welfare standards and our farming community, but sometimes they find food labelling confusing and misleading as to country of origin. What action have the Government taken to clarify the confusion? What steps will the Minister take, particularly with regard to making the technology even better in future?

Victoria Prentis: Country-of-origin labelling must not mislead. If the main ingredient has a different origin—for example if a British pie has French meat inside—the label must say so. I have spoken to my hon. Friend about possible technological solutions to labelling issues, such as using QR codes, which can give consumers much more information about a product. We will continue to work on those solutions.