Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme: Labelling requirements

From 1 October 2023, individual labels will be required on all prepacked meat, prepacked meat products, meat packed on sales premises and some dairy products using this scheme.

‘Prepacked’ means packed for the final consumer or catering operator, so that the contents cannot be altered without opening or changing the packaging.

Compound products are included in phase 1, if they contain one or more of the products in the phase 1 list. For example, a chicken kiev or a cheeseburger. Find out how to identify compound products.

Phase 1 does not include composite products. For example, lasagne, pork pies or pepperoni pizza. These come into force in phase 3.

Prepacked meat

This includes chilled, frozen, dried and ambient meat, defined as the edible parts of any animal intended for human consumption.

Meat includes but is not limited to:

• red meats - lamb, beef, pork, steak, minced meat, veal, venison
• game meats - rabbit, game birds, wild birds for consumption
• poultry - chicken, turkey, quail
• ‘exotic’ meats which are intended for human consumption - kangaroo, ostrich
• any domestic bovine species including bison and Bubalus species
• other domestic species of ‘red meats’ including swine, ovine, caprine and domestic solipeds
• poultry including chickens, turkeys, any farmed domestic birds, and any farmed wild birds
• rabbits, hares and rodents
• any wild game, including wild birds or wild land mammals, that are hunted for consumption, whether they are truly wild or kept in wild-like conditions to be hunted
• any lagomorphs which live in the wild and are hunted for consumption.
• animal blood
• any other wild game which does not fall into the above specific categories if it is intended for human consumption
• meat preparations
• any other products produced from parts of animals, including gelatine (sweets with gelatine do not need to be individually labelled as they are shelf-stable products)

Prepacked meat products

These are meat products which may have been divided, parted, severed, sliced, boned, minced, skinned, ground, cut, cleaned, trimmed, husked, milled, and packed so that the cut surface shows the product no longer has the characteristics of meat.

These products could be fresh, chilled, frozen, deep-frozen or thawed.

Meat packed on sales premises

This is meat which is prepared and packed before sale to a consumer, such as:

• meat and animal origin products which are butchered on-site, packaged and sold on the shop floor, like cuts of steak or lamb, fresh poultry or cuts of game
• meat products which are processed and packaged on-site, like fresh mince products that are produced and packaged on-site
• meat on supermarket deli or butcher counters where the product is packaged before sale

Some dairy products (including both prepacked and packed on sales premises)

This includes:

• pasteurised milk, buttermilk or cream products
• cottage cheese, quark cheese or raw (unprocessed) cheese, of any animal origin
• crème fraiche and sour cream

Check the full list of commodity codes for products that need individual labels by 1 October 2023.

Funding for product labelling

The UK Government will provide financial support to help businesses with the new labelling requirements in phase 1. Funding will cover a range of activities that could help your business meet the labelling requirements.

To benefit from this support, you should keep all evidence of your costs to prepare to meet the new labelling requirements on 1 October 2023, as you may get payment retrospectively. More guidance will follow shortly on the arrangements for benefiting from this support.

The funding will not cover the labelling changes for phases 2 and 3.

30-day transition period

The UK government recognises that there will already be products on the market in Northern Ireland when each new phase comes into effect. Therefore, there will be a 30-day transition period at the start of each phase. This means that goods that are already on the market will not need to be relabelled and will be able to be sold during the transition period.

After each transition period ends, relevant goods must be labelled with the words ‘Not for EU‘ on boxes and individual products in line with these requirements. This means:

• Food products that were moved into Northern Ireland before 1 October 2023 must be individually labelled by 31 October 2023.
• Phase 2 products that were moved into Northern Ireland before 1 October 2024 must be individually labelled by 31 October 2024.
• Phase 3 products that were moved into Northern Ireland before 1 July 2025 must be individually labelled by 31 July 2025.