Dairy company milk it in Europe

A Bristol based dairy wholesale company is successfully distributing its 10ml milk portions across Spain thanks to help from the Enterprise Europe Network South West.

Farmright, based in Bristol, is dedicated to improving the farming industry through unique products and processes and aims to add value to the farming supply chain.

The company sells portions of milk in 10ml sachets. In the UK, the product is sold without the e-mark (which guarantees the average weight and measurement of a product) on their packaging.

Farmright was keen to distribute their product across Spain and had been informed by a Spanish distributor that the e-mark was essential on all packaging. This would mean reprinting its existing packaging at additional costs, so it contacted Enterprise Europe Network for advice on the legislative requirements.

Tony Fitzhenry, commercial director at Farmright, said: "We were unsure whether the e-mark was required on the labels of 10ml milk portions when selling to the Spanish market and were looking for clarification of labelling requirements. We didn’t want to produce new packaging unnecessarily and found Enterprise Europe Network’s help invaluable".

Claudia Lock Fuerst, Enterprise Europe Network European policy and strategy manager, said: "We offer a free information service that can answer many of the legal questions that businesses looking to trade in Europe may have. We helped Farmright by researching what the legislative requirements are and also drew on the experience of the extensive contacts across the Network and beyond. We referred the matter to SOLVIT, the free of charge European Commission initiative which has centres across Europe to help answer client’s queries. In this case, both the UK and Spanish SOLVIT centres were involved".

Farmright received a prompt reply from SOLVIT advising that both the Spanish Dairy Industry Federation and the Ministry of Environment had confirmed that it is not compulsory to include the e-mark on 10ml milk portions when selling in Spain.

Tony Fitzhenry from Farmright, said that "the advice from Enterprise Europe Network has been very helpful, comprehensive and quick. We received an email from SOLVIT clarifying our legal position which has saved us both time and cost, enabling us to focus on our market expansion strategy".