New food labelling plans will ensure that British produce will ‘stand out from the crowd’, Defra said.

It hopes that changes to food labelling will allow consumers to make better decisions at the supermarket, whilst also highlighting high quality, British produce to the public.

New food labelling would also make it clearer when imported products do not meet the same UK welfare standards.

The commitment to consult on changes was announced by Environment Secretary Steve Barclay during his speech at the 2024 Oxford Farming Conference.

Mr Barclay said that clear food labelling would help to “tackle the unfairness created by misleading labelling”, whilst also backing domestic food production.

Commenting on Defra’s plans to consult, NFU president Minette Batters stressed the importance for labelling to be “clear, simple and contain accurate information” that allows the public to choose products produced by British farmers to high animal welfare standards.