Marketing standards for food and drink products

Marketing standards exist alongside your wider responsibilities under food law. They do not replace your other legal duties.

As a food and drink business, you must comply with general food law, including:

• food hygiene rules for your premises and processes
• food labelling and traceability requirements
• using marketing terms and product descriptions accurately
• keeping records that show how you comply with all legal duties

You may need to meet additional rules if you export or import food products or if your product uses protected names.

Complying with marketing standards for food products

Marketing standards are an additional part of your legal obligations. They set the rules for specific product categories, defining permitted product grades, labelling requirements, presentation, and methods of production.

Compliance ensures that your products meet the required minimum levels set for quality, labelling, consumer protection, food safety, and fair trading.

In Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is responsible for marketing standards, except for milk and spreadable fats, which fall under the responsibility of the Food Standards Agency.

In case of certain product groups, local councils are authorised to carry out marketing standards inspections on behalf of DAERA, and can check product descriptions, labelling, documentation records, traceability and more.

Where to find updates on marketing standards

Marketing standards can change, especially when regulations or trading arrangements are updated. Changes can affect the terms you use on labels, the records you must keep and the information you must provide.

To stay up to date on marketing standards:

• check GOV.UK for the latest UK-wide marketing standards guidance
• check with DAERA for Northern Ireland-specific information and updates
• review relevant regulations on the legislation.gov.uk website

Always check the most recent version of the guidance or regulations before making labelling or marketing changes to your products.

Detailed guidance is available elsewhere on this website on the wider food law requirements, including on food hygiene, food labelling and food law enforcement.