Rewe Group, Migros-owned Tegut and Edeka have become the first retailers to sign up to a new labelling system which indicates the origin of food products.
The new seal unifies the requirements for different ingredients which claim to be regional at a national level.
The scheme, which is called Regionalfenster, or 'regional window', will be launched in Germany from January 2014 and has been supported by the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.
Consumers can 'see at a glance which foods actually come from the region indicated on the packaging. This gives consumers a nationwide uniform and reliable identification of regional products', according to the organizers of the new scheme.
According to the terms of the new scheme, 'The definition of the region must be clear and transparent, for example by specifying the administrative boundaries or by a radius in kilometer'.
The launch follows a trial with 150 products earlier this year and may serve as an example for an EU-wide solution.
© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Ellen Lunney
