FIC Maturity · Food Information to Consumers · Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011
Your grip on food labelling, measured against the FIC regulation and turned into a costed action plan.
10 themes, a 5-level scale. And the action that moves each level to the next.
The framework’s 10 themes, already written from L1 to L5. One company, one business unit, or 300 at once.
FIC Maturity · Food Information to Consumers · Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011
10 themes, 5-level scale.
Nordhavn Industries
53 / 100
They measure their maturity with Datamensio
An example
This could be your situation.
Take one company as an example: three sites, three spreadsheets, no shared answer.
Nobody can consolidate.
Nordhavn Industries, 2,400 people in Hamburg, Lyon and Porto. A client asks where the group stands. Each site answers in its own spreadsheet, with its own scales.
Three weeks, a single base.
One Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (FIC) assessment launched across all three sites at once, from the managers’ interview notes. The framework was already written, its 10 themes and levels L1 to L5 too.
Two costs avoided before being committed.
A score of 53 out of 100, with the gap concentrated on three themes. The AI companion spotted that two actions duplicated those of another audit. The committee report took one sentence to request.
What it saved them
- 3sites measured on the same base, instead of three questionnaires to reconcile
- 2duplicate actions caught before the spend
- 1committee report, with no manual rework
These figures are an example. They could be yours.
The standard imposes processes. Datamensio says where you stand.
01
The framework is already written
Themes, questions and levels L1 to L5, all written. You do not start from an empty spreadsheet.
02
The score lands the same day
Online, by self-assessment link or in interview. Theme by theme, comparable over time.
03
The gap becomes a costed plan
Every step up carries its action. The AI prioritises on expected effect, not on the order of the standard.
04
Progress can be demonstrated
Campaign after campaign, against your target and against your own past. That is what your board asks for.
The maturity scale
One level, the next, and the action that links the two.
It is this mechanism, a level, a level above, and the action linking the two, that turns an observation into a trajectory.
How is the labelling update managed when a recipe or supplier changes?
- N1
No defined process. The label update depends on the initiative of whoever finds out about the change.
- N2
A procedure exists, but it is only triggered for changes deemed significant, and application varies by team and site.
- N3
Every recipe or supplier change triggers a formal labelling review, with regulatory sign off before printing starts. Gaps are occasional.
- N4
The process is systematic and tracked: label version linked to recipe version, control of packaging stock run down, indicators on the lead time between change and update.
- N5
The system is reviewed periodically based on observed gaps, complaints and regulatory developments, with documented tracking of revisions and comparison across sites.
Action to move from L2 to L3
Make labelling review mandatory for every recipe or supplier change by embedding it as a hold point in the product launch committee, with formal regulatory sign off required before any print approval.
« With Datamensio, we meet our objectives far more efficiently. The ERDF inspection services and our supervising ministry particularly appreciated an approach that gives them reliable data. »
Director, CCI 94CCI Île-de-France
« We believe this is the most suitable solution to scale our transformation project and measure impact according to our needs. »
Maja SucekChief Operating Officer, Interreg Danube
Rarely on its own
Frameworks combine. Put several together to cover your business, or have the AI write yours.
Take your first measurement
What this framework covers
Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, known as FIC, has applied since 13 December 2014, with mandatory nutrition declaration in force since 13 December 2016. It sets out the mandatory particulars on the label: name of the food, list of ingredients, allergens highlighted within that list, quantity of certain ingredients (QUID), net quantity, date of minimum durability or use by date, storage conditions, name of the responsible food business operator, country of origin or place of provenance where omission would mislead, instructions for use, alcoholic strength, nutrition declaration. It also governs legibility, with a minimum x height of 1.2 mm, and fair information practices.
In practice, the difficulty is not knowing the text, it is holding together the chain that produces the label. The calculation of the nutrition declaration and QUID depends on recipes and supplier technical data sheets, validation depends on quality, printing depends on marketing and packaging deadlines. Who signs off a recipe change before the packaging goes into production. How long passes between a change to a supplier technical data sheet and the label update. What happens with voluntary particulars, claims, distance selling.
Two confusions come up repeatedly. The first blurs FIC with sector specific texts: meat and milk origin falls under specific implementing regulations, nutrition and health claims fall under Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, and Nutri-Score remains a voluntary national scheme. The second treats labelling as a graphic design matter, whereas the regulation places responsibility for the information on the food business operator under whose name the food is marketed, including for food sold at a distance, where mandatory information other than the date of minimum durability must be available before purchase.
A compliance audit concludes with a gap or a pass on a given label, on a given date. The maturity assessment answers a different question: what level of control does the system that produces those labels sit at, and what specific action moves it up to the next level. This is what lets you manage, between two inspections, the reliability of recipe data, artwork validation and responsiveness when an error occurs.
The framework is ready to use in Datamensio and adaptable to your scope. AI adjusts the themes, questions and levels to your product categories and markets, or builds a bespoke version from your procedures and customer specifications.
Reference standard: Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (FIC)
The themes assessed
Governance of consumer information
Responsible food business operator identified, roles split between quality, regulatory, marketing and procurement, documented validation procedure, regulatory watch and dissemination of changes.
Mandatory particulars
Name of the food, list of ingredients and order by weight, net quantity, date of minimum durability or use by date, storage and usage conditions, operator contact details, instructions for use.
Allergens
Identification of the 14 substances listed in Annex II, highlighting within the list of ingredients, management of traces and cross contamination, consistency with the HACCP plan, information on non prepacked food.
Nutrition declaration
Values for the seven mandatory elements, determination method (analysis, calculation, average data), tolerances, presentation format, voluntary per portion expressions.
QUID and recipe data
Identification of ingredients subject to quantitative declaration, calculation basis, management of variants and substitutions, reliability and freshness of supplier technical data sheets.
Legibility and presentation
X height, contrast and placement, principal field of vision, particulars in the language required by the member state of marketing, small packaging cases.
Fair practices and voluntary particulars
Absence of misleading information, consistency of visuals and claims, voluntary particulars not encroaching on mandatory information, alignment with claims legislation.
Origin and provenance
Cases where indication is mandatory, origin of the primary ingredient where the food’s origin is indicated, documentary justification, consistency with traceability data.
Distance selling and non prepacked channels
Making mandatory information available before the purchase is concluded, updating online product sheets, information on food sold loose or prepacked for direct sale.
Change control and gap management
Recipe or supplier change process, label version freezing, running down packaging stock, handling of non conformities, withdrawals and recalls, capitalising on lessons learnt.
A short version of the framework is available for the online self-assessment.
Frequently asked questions
Can Regulation 1169/2011 be certified?
No. It is a directly applicable EU regulation, compliance with which is verified by official inspection authorities and, in practice, by customer audits and private frameworks. The assessment measures your level of control and prepares you for those inspections, it does not issue any certificate.
What is the difference between this assessment and a label check?
A check examines labels on a given date and concludes with gaps. The assessment evaluates the system that produces those labels: recipe data, validation, legibility, change management. It places each theme on a maturity scale and points to the action that drives progress.
How long does the assessment take?
The short version takes 20 to 30 minutes to complete. The full version, run collaboratively with quality, regulatory, procurement and marketing, generally spans one to two weeks, most of the time being spent gathering input from the teams.
Does the framework cover our retail customers’ requirements?
The core covers the FIC regulation. You can add your own themes for customer specifications or voluntary particulars you use. AI adjusts questions and levels, or builds a bespoke version from your procedures and the specifications you receive.
Can several sites or brands be compared?
Yes. The assessment can be run at scale across several business units, with benchmarking between entities and against previous campaigns. A cross cutting roadmap consolidates the action plans from different scopes and avoids duplicating the same work.
Do respondents need regulatory expertise?
The questions cover practices and decision making processes, not the legal interpretation of an article. A quality manager can answer them. Technical points, such as the method used to determine nutritional values, can be assigned to the right contributor in collaborative mode.
How is the action plan costed?
The gap between your score and your target generates the actions to be taken. AI groups them into a prioritised roadmap, and the service catalogue matches a solution to each item, with cost, timeframe and expected impact on the score.
Where is the data hosted?
In France, with OVH, backed up with Scaleway. No transfer outside the European Union. The AI models used can be selected, including from European providers.