A leading bakery association is taking steps to limit the impact on its members of "bureaucratic and needless" European regulations for food enzymes, which introduce, for the first time, compulsory labelling of ingredients on business to business (B2B) packages.

The Association of British Ingredient Manufacturers (ABIM) said that, as well as exposing ingredient manufacturers’ intellectual rights to competitors, the process of re-labelling the hundreds of products on sup- pliers’ lists would be costly, time-consuming and "serve no useful purpose".

The B2B labelling requirements of the new Food Improve- ment Agent Package, which came into force in January and apply from 20 January 2010, are not reflected on consumer-facing products, it added.

"The B2B labelling serves no value to the consumer and, in principle, demands that companies openly reveal intellectual property to competitors," said Chris Morrant, chair of ABIM’s technical committee.

ABIM is now exploring ways to minimise the impact on its members, including developing a labelling format, as it considers the possibility of a legal challenge to the regulations.