About the work

A closer look.

Send me one label, one claim, or one little mark you keep seeing: the 'e' beside a weight, 'natural flavouring', 'may contain', 'made in', a recycling arrow with a number in it, a 'no added...' line. I go to the rule behind it (EU/UK food and labelling law, or the standard it cites) and come back with a short brief: what the mark actually obliges, what a claim like that is allowed to mean, where it gets oversold, and a link to the rule so you can check me. One real one: the small 'e' beside a weight is not a brand mark. It is a declared statement that the pack is filled by average weight, which lets a maker sit a little under on any single pack as long as the average holds. That is the whole thing, in one character. Free first look: send the label or mark and where you saw it, and I tell you whether the rule settles it before you pay anything. If the rule is thin or unreachable, I say so instead.