Label printing in the dairy and meat products field requires further improvement, it has been claimed.

According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), there has been a generally positive upturn in the number of items that are being sold with sufficient printed labels.

However, food minister Jim Paice said that in some areas - such as fresh cream - one-third of labels do not carry the country of origin for the ingredients used in the produce.

Just 59 per cent of branded milk fulfilled this requirement, while 77 per cent of cheese that was surveyed contained details of where the milk came from.

The selection of meat that was scrutinised appeared to fare better, as 82 per cent of bacon and sausages contained the relevant details.

Mr Paice commented: "The food industry has already taken the initiative on this, but [these] results show there's still room for improvement."

There has been some furore over the packaging of produce that derives from cloned animals, as the Farmers Guardian reports that the Food Standards Agency has been criticised for not forcing farmers to specify this on the labels of meat and dairy goods.

Denny Bros Ltd, 01 June 2011