Food and drink manufacturers have been granted a period of grace on the new EU food labelling regulations for allergens that came into force last week.
The rules, effective from November 25, require prepacked foods to clearly show whether they contain any of 12 allergenic foods, including nuts, peanuts, eggs, milk, fish and soya.
However, a spokesman for Lacors said it was advising local authorities to take a risk-based approach to enforcement, giving companies some breathing space until next March.
Companies that had been awaiting the final list of exempt ingredients will also have longer to comply.
A relaxation of Sunday trading laws would be the end of some small shops, the Rural Shops Alliance has warned. This follows an analysis among its retail members, which found that 70% open on Sundays and achieve more than 15% of their week’s turnover on Sundays.

Defra has published plans to simplify regulation and reduce the cost of business. It identifies 64 initiatives being carried out to simplify laws, which Defra estimates could save business more than £86m a year.

Asda has recalled two sets of Christmas lights due to a possible electrical fault. The Asda 6m White Rope Light and the Asda Light Up Snowflake were sold in all Asda stores from October 29.

Ice cream manufacturer Richmond Foods’ full-year pre-tax profit to October 2 rose 8.4% to £14.4m on sales down 2.1% to £140.7m.

E-payment and cash machine provider Cardpoint’s full-year pre-tax profit before goodwill and amortisation to September 30 rose 93% to £3.6m on turnover up 66% to £61.1m. CEO Mark Mills warned that poor performing sites acquired from rival Moneybox earlier this year could affect profits.

Zambezi Foods has withdrawn two batches of Willards smooth peanut butter 375ml after they were found to contain high levels of aflatoxins. The batch codes are 385823 and 375681, with best-before dates of 27/01/06 and 11/11/05.

Dairy company Arla Foods UK’s full-year underlying pre-tax profit to September 30 rose 5.2% to £44.5m on sales from continuing operations up 4.6% to £1.32bn.
‘keep sunday laws’
simplification
Asda recalls lights
pre-tax profit up
Cardpoint soars
willards recall
Arla up 5.2%