The European Commission is threatening legal action against Portugal and Cyprus for failing to ensure food packaging carries nutritional information.

Brussels said that the countries had not taken steps to enforce the EU’s directive on nutrition labelling for foodstuffs, which requires labels to carry information on recommended daily nutritional intake, energy conversion data and definitions.

It has sent Lisbon and Nicosia a ‘reasoned opinion’, a legal final warning giving them two months to say how they will resolve this problem or face probable action at European Court of Justice, which can order action, and levy heavy recurring fines if it is ignored.

The news comes days after European MEPs rejected calls to require food labels throughout the EU to carry traffic-light labelling information.