In spring 2026, an amendment proposed making Origin'Info mandatory for three years. Many food brands put the topic on hold: \"let's see what the law says\". The law has now arrived. Promulgated on 18 August 2026, France's emergency law for agricultural protection and sovereignty does not make Origin'Info mandatory. But it does impose new origin statements on processed foods, and it changes the game for packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this article: what was voted, what was dropped, the timeline to watch, and how to get ahead without reprinting your packaging after every decree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Origin'Info was born at the French Ministry of the Economy in May 2024, at the initiative of Olivia Gr\u00e9goire, then Minister for Consumer Affairs. The principle is simple: display the origin of the main agricultural raw materials in a processed food product, with a shared logo and a commitment charter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The scheme relies on three official formats, at the brand's choice: the logo printed directly on the pack, display at the shelf or on the retailer's website, and a QR code leading to a dedicated page. At launch, 120 brands had signed up<\/a> according to the Ministry of the Economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The key point: from day one, Origin'Info has been voluntary. No penalty, no obligation. That is precisely what the spring debate aimed to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 19 May 2026, the French National Assembly examined the agricultural emergency bill. The Horizons and LIOT groups, at the initiative of the En V\u00e9rit\u00e9 collective, tabled an amendment to make ingredient origin labelling mandatory, on an experimental basis for three years, using the Origin'Info logo or a similar logo clearly naming the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The time-limited experiment was designed to stay compatible with EU law, which strictly regulates national origin labelling rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This amendment did not survive the parliamentary process. It is absent from the final text. In the Senate, another proposal from the En V\u00e9rit\u00e9 collective, extending to national brands the transparency obligation planned for private labels, was rejected with an unfavourable opinion from the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Origin'Info therefore remains what it was: a voluntary scheme, driven by the French consumer protection authority (DGCCRF) and by consumer pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The text was definitively adopted on 20 and 21 July, validated by the Constitutional Council on 14 August, then promulgated on 18 August 2026<\/a>. On origin, four measures directly concern food brands and retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One important point: the parameters debated in the Senate (country of birth, rearing and slaughter, minimum meat content in the dish, simplified \"EU\" or \"non-EU\" statements) are not in the law itself. They will be set by decree. Until that decree is published, nobody knows the exact wording to print.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The origin statements imposed by the law fall under the EU Food Information to Consumers Regulation (FIC, Regulation (EU) No 1169\/2011). They will have to appear on the pack, not only behind a QR code. For meat and fish, the QR code remains a complement, not a substitute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wheat, milk, tomatoes, oil, sugar, cocoa: for every other raw material, no new obligation. Origin'Info remains the only official framework for displaying their origin in a readable, recognised way. Brands that adopt it keep a head start on a topic that consumers, farmers and the #BalanceTonOrigine movement will not let go of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notification to Brussels, the Commission's response, a decree in the Council of State, time to run down packaging stocks: nobody can give a firm application date for meat and fish today. A brand that waits for the decree before reacting exposes itself to an emergency reprint. A brand that reprints now exposes itself to a second reprint when the decree sets the exact wording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The right strategy is to separate what must be printed from what can evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the pack: the mandatory origin statement, once the decree is known, and a single QR code. That QR code can be a GS1 Digital Link augmented QR code, which will eventually replace the barcode and which large retailers expect for 2027. One printed symbol that never changes again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Behind the QR code: the origin of each raw material in the Origin'Info format, updated in real time. A tomato supply that switches from Italy to Spain the following season, a batch of flour from a different mill, a new regulatory requirement: the page is updated, the pack stays the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is exactly what the Qezako Origin'Info module<\/a> enables: the scheme's three official formats, entry per product or in bulk, and a history of declared origins. To go further on what digital labelling brings to SMEs facing private labels, read our article Origin'Info 2026: how food SMEs are reclaiming the edge over private labels<\/a>. And to understand the QR code that unifies logistics and consumer information, see GS1 augmented QR code: understanding the 2026 packaging revolution<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key dates to remember<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n The agricultural emergency law did not make Origin'Info mandatory, but it writes ingredient origin into French law, starting with meat and fish. The precise rules depend on Brussels and on decrees still to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a food brand, the right reflex is not to wait for the decree. It is to set up now a system that displays the origin of all its raw materials and that will absorb the next obligations without a reprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSpring 2026: the amendment that wanted to make Origin'Info mandatory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What Law no. 2026-796 actually requires<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Measure<\/th> Products concerned<\/th> Timeline and conditions<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Origin of meat used as an ingredient (Article 11)<\/td> Beef, pork, lamb, goat and poultry in prepacked foods, including meat preparations. Exceptions: protected designations of origin (PDO) and organic products<\/td> Decree in the Council of State, after the notification procedure to the European Commission under the FIC Regulation<\/td><\/tr>\n Origin of fish and molluscs used as ingredients (Article 10)<\/td> Flesh and roe of farmed fish, farmed bivalve molluscs, in prepacked foods<\/td> Same mechanism: decree after Brussels gives its approval<\/td><\/tr>\n Origin in food service (Article 12)<\/td> Dishes containing these fish and molluscs<\/td> No later than 1 January 2028<\/td><\/tr>\n Share of French origin in private labels (Article 8)<\/td> Annual purchases of food products sold under private label<\/td> From 1 January 2030, reported each year to the Minister of Agriculture<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n What this means for food brands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The obligation will go on the physical label<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The law only covers meat and fish<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The timeline is uncertain, and that is the real risk<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The recommended approach: digital labelling to absorb the changes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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In short<\/h2>\n\n\n\n