Main rules for selling food online

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/10

In the case of selling food and drinks, the district office acting as the food chain safety and veterinary authority registers the business. Food produced by a small farmer may be sold to consumers as a registered smallholder producer. With the exception of foodstuffs requiring refrigeration, small-scale producers may only sell their food online on their own website, not through traders or shops. For online sales in general, the website must include the details of the person/business responsible for the content published. It is important to note that it isn’t sufficient to have only an e-mail address on the site for contact purposes: traders are also obliged to inform customers about the place and method of complaint handling, as well as the General Terms and Conditions.

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Operators in the domestic food chain must also have a FELIR number.

Product descriptions

Compliance with food information rules is obligatory in online trade too. The mandatory information must be displayed on the website in Hungarian. Product descriptions must include the following elements: name of the food, list of ingredients, quantity of certain ingredients or groups of ingredients, net quantity of the food, specific conditions of storage and/or use, name or business name and address of the food enterprise responsible for providing food information, country of origin or place of provenance (where required by law), instructions for use, the actual alcoholic strength by volume for beverages containing more than 1.2 % ABV alcohol, nutrition labelling.

Voluntary elements

Besides the compulsory labelling elements, voluntary information may be displayed, such as nutritional or health claims, indications of Hungarian origin, superior quality, and being free-from product. However, these may only be displayed in accordance with the relevant legal requirements. The above information must be provided before the purchase is completed. Information on the website mustn’t contradict the product labelling or mislead the consumer. Online selling essentially ends with delivery. It is important that the product is delivered in a sealed and intact package and is marked in Hungarian, and that the invoice or delivery note is handed over to the buyer. The shelf life or best-before date and the batch identifier don’t need to be indicated in the product descriptions of the online shop, but must be provided for the delivered product. The National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih) inspects online shops selling foodstuffs on the basis of risk assessment, target inspection and notification; the website and its associated shop and warehouse may also be inspected. //

Special product group

Dietary supplements are a special category of foods that are subject to specific rules in addition to the general labelling requirements, and therefore the labelling must include the following: exact name of the product, including the term “dietary supplement”, name of the typical nutrient groups or ingredients of the product or a reference to the nature of the nutrients or ingredients, instead of nutrition labelling the amount of nutrients or substances with a nutritional or physiological effect contained in the product in relation to the recommended daily intake, recommended daily intake, and the following mandatory warnings:1. the dietary supplement isn’t a substitute for a balanced, varied diet, 2. the product must be kept out of the reach of young children, 3. the consumer shouldn’t exceed the recommended daily intake. //