Why the ‘non-EU’ labelling at Morrisons was about law, not politics

The poor Morrisons social media team. When deluged with a barrage of abuse yesterday, they must have thought something awful had happened.

“Tell me Morrisons that this is not real,” wrote one Twitter user. “If this is genuine, Morrisons will never see another penny of mine,” said another.

We can only assume the Morrisons team was confused before realising their fury was directed at… a chicken.

Oh, but this was not just any chicken, you see. This was a deliberately inflammatory chicken, so brazen as to include “non-EU salt and pepper” on its front label.

“Absolutely disgusted to see this anti-EU branding on a product,” came the replies. The Twitter crowd saw right through Morrisons’ game. This chicken was clearly the work of a Brexiteer within the ranks, celebrating the vote via that most infamous of party tricks: excluding EU condiments.

The cheek of it. Cue outrage. “I’m done with shopping at Morrisons,” wrote one. “I can live with union flags on bananas, but the gratuitous slight on the EU is too much.” You and me both.

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The Morrisons team apologised, called it a mistake, and promised to redesign the label in a less triggering manner. But the truth is, this wasn’t a political decision – instead a far more mundane reflection of labelling rules.

It is perhaps the most absurd aspect of the furore that while Twitter users screeched over Morrisons’ “exclusion of EU condiments”, in reality, the supermarket was following rules laid down in… Brussels.

For under EU labelling law – which the UK transposed into British law after Brexit – any ‘British’ marked food must clearly state “non-EU” against “primary” ingredients that are not local. For Morrisons and its salt and pepper chicken, this means its non-EU origin seasoning must be clearly shown at 75% of the size of the word “British”.

Morrisons has nevertheless gone back to the drawing board, redesigning the label “to make it clear this is not a political commentary”. Supermarkets be warned: enter the Brexit debate in your ingredient lists and Twitter will notice.