Food Association looks to improve Labeling Law

By Aguayo, Ecclefield & Martínez (AEM Law Firm)

The president of Food and Beverages (AB, for its Spanish name) of Chile announced that in the coming weeks he will lead a round of hearings with national government authorities in order to address problems of the Food Labeling Law. The first hearing will be with the Minister of Health, Carmen Castillo, and later with the Minister of Economy, Luis Felipe Céspedes.

The main request of Food and Beverages is that all national and international Industrial Property laws and agreements should be properly respected in the Food Labeling Law approved on June 2016. The Association will also ask for criteria unification in the law, as several organizations, law firms, lawmakers and politicians have criticized the new regulation as too open and vague.

"It has such a wide spectrum of uncertainty that a possible infringement of the law remains at the total discretion of authorities", warned Rodrigo Álvarez, president of AB. "We have had inspectors who told us that a certain figure put in a certain place of a package is legal, while other inspectors told us the opposite", he added.

Food and Beverages, which accounts for 80% of the total turnover of the Chilean food industry, will request law studies to support its position against the weaknesses of the labeling regulation. The protest of the association comes after the government accused Kellogg's, Masterfoods and Nestlé for infringing the law for using prohibited elements in products promotions for under 14 years old.