Ethical Consumerism? Intangible Food Qualities and Mandatory Consumer Information in EU Law

Tangible food qualities are important determinants of food consumers' choices. Physical, nutritional and organoleptic features of foodstuffs are indeed core elements underlying buyers' purchasing decisions. However, ethical considerations (as such including, inter alia, political, religious, social and environmental concerns) play an ever-increasing role in consumers' decision-making processes. In this sense, also intangible food qualities may be regarded as important factors affecting buyers' choices. Yet, if one considers EU law applicable to mandatory food labelling (in particular, Regulation (EU) n. 1169/2011, which constitutes the general discipline on the provision of food information to consumers), intangible food qualities are never explicitly mentioned in the relevant legal provisions. However, in this regard the European Court of Justice provided meaningful clarifications by means, in particular, of the Psagot and the Lactalis rulings. In the light of the recalled judgments, this paper intends, firstly, to investigate whether intangible characteristics may be the object of mandatory labelling requirements under Regulation n. 1169/2011. This being the case, the conditions legitimizing the imposition of such informative obligations will be also described.