By Martin Banks - 10th September 2009
Europe's airline industry has voiced "deep" concern over possible EU plans concerning the labelling of food served on planes.
According to a proposed regulation, airlines would be required to display the nutritional content on food served to passengers.
The aim of the legislation is to simplify and harmonise EU food labelling and information to consumers.
But the Association of European Airlines (AEA) says the proposal will have the opposite effect and increase costs for the airline industry.
Its report says, "The proposed regulation applied to the aviation sector will not only impose practical and economic constraints on airlines but will fail to achieve its goal."
It goes on, "On the basis of the flag state principle, this new regulation would imply that any food served onboard an aircraft of any EU registered airline would have to comply with the requirements set out in the regulation.
"The scenario means that consumers would be provided with different types of information on allergens or no information at all – depending on which carrier they are flying with and if they are flying from or to the EU. This would clearly contradict the objective of the regulation and would be detrimental to consumers.
"For instance, the appropriate information would be given to the passengers on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt-Tokyo whereas it would not be the case on a Japan Airlines flight, Frankfurt-Tokyo.
"Any food delivered by caterers to the carriers at EU airports would have to comply with the proposed EU legislation.
"However, as air carriers from third countries would not have to comply with EU laws – as the food is served in-flight and not on EU territory – these airlines might relocate their catering to caterers outside the EU in order to avoid additional costs linked to the new labelling requirements."
The Brussels-based AEA represents 35 of the world's biggest airlines, including British Airways, Air France, Virgin and Lufthansa.
The association is now urging the European parliament and member states to "acknowledge the specificities of aviation" before a final decision on the draft law is taken.
The report goes on, "The AEA wants to emphasise that information to passengers on food is of key importance to airlines.
"Over the past ten years, the industry has developed a standard to ensure that any passenger with special food requirement can be served a special meal onboard the aircraft.
"However, the specificity of the industry needs to be recognised and taken into consideration in European legislation."
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