Defra alongside the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Northern Ireland and Wales, Food Standards Scotland, DHSC, and the Scottish and Welsh Governments are currently conducting a review of The Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 and The Bread and Flour (Northern Ireland) Regulations 1998 to ensure the regulations are fit for purpose and support UK industry while protecting consumers. To assist the review, DEFRA convened a technical working group made up of a wide range of relevant stakeholders to help identify and explore the issues around the regulations which cover the compositional requirements of bread and flour. As part of this, the working group is exploring the use of the term "sourdough", to assess whether providing a definition of sourdough in any legislative changes to the Bread and Flour Regulations would be beneficial to protect consumers.<\/p>
The UK maintains high standards on the information provided on food labels and packaging so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy and as part of the Government's Food Strategy, we are reviewing how food information, including labelling, can be improved. Existing food labelling rules and other requirements on the control of additives in food production ensure that food is produced safely and labelled effectively to enable consumers to make informed choices on the food they buy and consume.<\/p>
Bakers, including those producing sourdough products, can effectively market their products on their own merits within the rules as they stand, and legislation supports such marketing so long as it is not misleading. While discussions around the term "sourdough" are still ongoing, legislative intervention is just one option and should be restricted to areas where there is clear market failure. The Government is supportive of non-regulatory measures and encourages further work on the draft industry code of practice which could help achieve a better mutual understanding in this area.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1547", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Benyon"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Benyon"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-02-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-02-14T14:38:44.313Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "13"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-01-31", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Bread"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to introducing a legal definition of (1) sourdough bread, and (2) other sourdough products.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4719", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle"} ], "uin" : "HL5781"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1418469", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Defence"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1418469/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
In April 2021, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) published its Special Committee\u2019s report into historical inequalities in commemoration. The CWGC continues to make good progress against the report\u2019s ten recommendations. Documents recently discovered by the CWGC\u2019s dedicated research team put the number of personnel from the Egyptian Labour and the Camel Transport Corps who lost their lives in the Middle East during the First World War at just over 15,550. Very few of these were known to have marked graves and the names of the majority were, and are, unknown to the CWGC.<\/p>
<\/p>
Although one aspect of the CWGC\u2019s response to the report is to search for missing burials (and where they can be located and marked, they will be), the CWGC is initially focused on the discovery of names so that individuals\u2019 service and sacrifice can be properly recorded and acknowledged. The CWGC have established that records and named lists of Egyptian personnel were passed by the British Armed Forces to the then Egyptian authorities so that pensions and compensation could be paid. The CWGC hope that these records might yet be found in Egyptian archival collections and the CWGC is making progress in tracking these records down.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4306", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Goldie"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Baroness Goldie"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-02-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-02-10T11:45:12.443Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "11"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Defence"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Defence"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-01-31", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Egypt: War Graves"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in identifying the graves of more than 10,000 Egyptians who died in the service of the British Empire during World War One, including those in the Egyptian Labour Corps.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4719", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle"} ], "uin" : "HL5782"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }