Abingdon Country Market were letting customers know that after 72 years their last market will be on September 11th (at the Salvation Army in West St Helen Street).
They have very much enjoyed running the Market, and have loved baking for the people of Abingdon. It is with regret that they have taken the decision to close.
The reason is a change to food standard regulations. Natasha’s Law will come into force on 1st October 2021. The law was introduced following the death of a teenager called Natasha, who suffered a fatal allergic reaction after eating a baguette bought from Pret a Manger. Businesses will need to label packaged food with a full ingredients list and allergen information.
The person I spoke to at the Abingdon Country Market agreed this is needed for bigger businesses but will find it too difficult to do as a small concern (see example of Lemon Drizzle Cake above). Currently Abingdon Country Market provide allergen information on each package and know the ingredients of their own products. The full ingredients list and allergen information will be a large overhead where only a small number of each cake or preserve are made every month.
Another difficulty is maintaining an ingredient’s list where ingredients can change unexpectedly. If a certain margarine is used in a cake, then the full breakdown of the margarine ingredients are shown on the cake, and where ingredients change, or an alternative is used, the change will have to be noticed and the label changed as a result.
The Country Market have known about the new law since 2019 and have waited to see whether there will be a dispensation for small producers before taking the decision to close.
I don’t know whether such labelling will be needed for cakes sold at church and school fetes.
This is another of many examples of legislation designed to address a specific circumstance but which have wider unintended (but predictable and often predicted) consequences. Westminster makes decisions that the rest of us have to live with. The present tendency to avoid parliamentary scrutiny means that, unless there is a strong reversal of the trend, we will experience more and more sledgehammers cracking nuts.
There is nothing wrong with this legislation. Yes it is an inconvenience for small producers however I as the consumer have a right to ensure that the ingredients are listed but that the list if ingredients correct and comprehensive.
If a cake is produced using a substitute ingredient, I’m sorry but that is the producers problem – the consumer should not be unknowingly provided a product with substitute ingredients
I agree with Colin. It may be a challenge for producers, but those of us with food allergies have a right to know what is in the stuff we are buying.
My point was not about the aim of the legislation but its unintended consequences – one of which is the inability of small, local producers being unable to continue trading unless they employ cumbersome and expensive health and safety teams.