Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme: Labelling requirements
Labelling rules for businesses in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and retailers in Northern Ireland, for certain agri-food products moved under the Retail Movement Scheme.
Last updated: 16 June 2025
Businesses in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) can move some goods to Northern Ireland through the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme (NIRMS). This includes prepacked retail goods as well as some loose goods, including fruit and vegetables.
There are labelling requirements for moving goods through NIRMS to make sure that goods are not moved onwards into the EU. These include different requirements for:
- labelling some individual products
- labelling boxes where the products inside the boxes do not need to be individually labelled
- displaying signage in retail premises in Northern Ireland for products that do not need to be individually labelled
The business or trader moving the goods is responsible for:
- ensuring that the labelling requirements are met
- following the existing food packaging and labelling regulations that apply in the UK and any health and identification marks needed
This guide explains the labelling requirements for food products and details the products that need individual product labels from phase 1 (from 1 October 2023), phase 2 (from 1 October 2024), and phase 3 (from 1 July 2025).
Labelling requirements for individual products, boxes and retailer premises in Northern Ireland
Requirements for Northern Ireland retailers labelling certain agri-food products under the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme.
Last updated: 16 June 2025
There are specific requirements for Northern Ireland retailers labelling certain agri-food products under the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme.
Individual labels
Under NIRMS, some food products require individual product labels with the words ‘Not for EU’. These requirements are being introduced in 3 phases from October 2023 to July 2025. This includes products imported into Great Britain from the EU and products from the rest of the world that can move under NIRMS.
Only products moving into Northern Ireland under NIRMS need to meet the labelling requirements.
Phases 1 and 2
All meat products and dairy products must be individually labelled.
Check the descriptions of products included in phase 1 and phase 2.
Phase 3
From 1 July 2025, individual labels are also needed for:
- some composite products
- fruit and vegetables
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- some other products
Check the descriptions of products included in phase 3.
If products are individually labelled, you do not need to label the box.
Not all products need to be individually labelled. You can also .
NI Retail Movement Scheme phase 1: Products that need individual product labels from 1 October 2023
From 1 October 2023 all meat products and some fresh dairy products that are moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will need to be individually labelled.
Last updated: 16 June 2025
Individual labels are required on:
- all prepacked meat and meat products (meat packed for the final consumer)
- meat packed on sales premises
- some dairy products
Prepacked meat and meat products
‘Meat’ is defined as the edible parts of any animal intended for human consumption.
‘Meat products’ are meat that has been substantially altered by processing. This includes by heating, smoking, curing, maturing, drying, marinating, extraction, extrusion or a combination of those processes.
Meat includes but is not limited to all fresh and frozen meats, such as:
- pork, including bacon, sausages, joints
- beef, including mince, joints, steaks, diced braising meat, burgers
- chicken, including whole, breasts, fillets, diced meat, thighs, shredded chicken, sausages
- lamb, including steaks, leg, shoulder, diced braising meat
- duck meat, venison, other game meats
- other similar meat and meat preparations
- exotic meats
- products which consist of animal fats, including gelatine or animal blood
Meat products include:
- chicken nuggets, chicken dippers, other breaded and battered chicken products, chicken wings and breasts in sauce (except where these are determined to be a composite product)
- burgers, minced meats, sliced red meats, sausages including cocktail sausages
- pâtés and similar meat-based spreads
- duck and goose fats
These products could be fresh, chilled, frozen, deep-frozen or thawed.
Meat packed on sales premises
This is meat that is prepared and packed before sale to a consumer, such as:
- meat and animal origin products that are butchered on site, packaged and sold on the shop floor, such as cuts of steak or lamb, fresh poultry or cuts of game
- meat products that are processed and packaged on site, such as fresh mince products or burgers
- meat on supermarket deli or butcher counters where the product is packaged before sale
Some dairy products (including both prepacked and packed on sales premises)
This includes:
- pasteurised milk, buttermilk, or cream products
- cottage cheese, quark cheese or raw ​​(unpasteurised) cheese
- crème fraiche and sour cream
Compound products
Compound products are products that contain:
- more than one product of animal origin (POAO)
- no plant products other than those for flavouring
Compound products are included in phase 1 if they contain products in the phase 1 list. For example, a pâté that has a duck and a dairy product, or a steak with a butter pellet. Both contain meat and dairy as the main ingredients and a small amount of plant products for flavour. They are therefore compound products and part of phase 1. Find out .
Commodity codes for products included in phase 1
You can also to confirm which products need labels in phase 1.
NI Retail Movement Scheme phase 2: Products that need individual product labels from 1 October 2024
From 1 October 2024, in addition to the phase 1 products, all milk and dairy products moving to Northern Ireland under the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme will need to be individually labelled.
Last updated: 16 June 2025
Since 1 October 2024, all milk and dairy products also need to be ​​individually labelled.
Dairy products
Dairy products are products resulting from the processing of raw milk or other dairy products. Dairy products include, but are not restricted to:
- all milk, including pasteurised, thermised and ultra-heat-treated (UHT) milk, condensed and evaporated milk, flavoured milk and milk with increased protein
- buttermilk or cream produced from animal products, including flavoured products
- cheeses produced from animal milk, including cottage cheese, hard cheeses, blue cheeses and cheeses with added herbs or fruit
- yoghurt, including flavoured and natural yoghurts and those with increased protein
- butter
- custard, both fresh and ambient (shelf-stable)
- whey and whey products
- butteroil and other dairy-based oils
- fermented dairy products, including kefir, koumiss, viili, fil, smetana, rjaženka and rūgušpiens
- caseins and anhydrous milk fat (AMF)
- ice cream made only from dairy products, stabilisers, flavourings and sweeteners. For example, a frozen yoghurt with added sugar and vanilla flavouring, or an all-dairy ice cream with no added oils
Composite products
Phase 2 does not include composite products that contain products from this list.
Composite products are products that contain both:
- plant products
- processed POAO for human consumption
For example, a chilled pizza with processed cheese does not need individual labelling in phase 2.
It is not a composite product if a plant product only adds special characteristics to a POAO, such as flavour, sweetness or as a thickening or decorative agent. These products therefore need to be individually product labelled.
The following examples are still defined as dairy products, as the plant product only adds flavour:
- cheese with added herbs
- yoghurt with added fruit
- breaded cheese, such as mozzarella sticks
Compound products
Compound products that need labelling in phase 2 are dairy products combined with another POAO, such as dairy or fish. For example, fish with a cheese sauce or prawns packaged with a dairy dip.
Commodity codes for products included in phase 2
You can also to confirm which products need labels in phase 2.
NI Retail Movement Scheme phase 3: Products that need individual product labels from 1 July 2025
From 1 July 2025, additional food products that move through the Retail Movement Scheme must be individually labelled.
Last updated: 16 June 2025
From 1 July 2025, additional food and retail goods must be individually labelled. This includes composite products that are not shelf stable or require sanitary and phytosanitary controls, such as pizza.
Composite products contain both products of plant origin and processed POAO for human consumption.
Some plant-based products are subject to official controls, meaning they need individual labels.
Pet food and the following products for humans need individual labels in phase 3.
All pre-packed and sealed fruit and vegetables
Such as:
- packed fruit such as apples, oranges, blueberries
- green beans, beansprouts and other packaged vegetables
- herbs, including those in bags
Some fruits are deregulated in accordance with plant health legislation and do not need individual labelling. Some fruits and vegetables that are processed do not need individual labelling. Read the to check which fruit products do not need individual labels.
All fresh, frozen and processed fish
Such as:
- fresh fish such as haddock, cod, salmon, trout, monkfish
- other fresh seafood such as prawns, crab, lobster
- tinned fish such as tuna, anchovies, mackerel
- breaded and battered fish products such as fillets and scampi
- seafood sticks
- fish pâté
Other POAO
Such as:
- eggs
- honey
- food supplements produced from animal products, with no added plant products
All chilled or frozen composite products and some chilled plant products that require certification or controls at a border control post (BCP)
Such as:
- quiches, lasagne, pork pies, scotch eggs, tortillas or omelettes, coleslaws, potato salads and other similar savoury snacks
- pasta sauces, guacamole, thousand island dressing, gravy, and other similar sauces and dips
- pizzas, raviolis and other pastas containing meat, pasties, pies, noodles containing meat, meal kits with dairy sauce, loaded fries, ready meals and other similar chilled meals
- eclairs, doughnuts, tarts, trifles, sundaes, crumbles, pies, mousses, brownies, strudels and other similar chilled or frozen desserts
- ice creams that are a mix of dairy products and plant products not used simply for flavouring (such as oils)
- chilled soups containing meat, fish or dairy products
- chilled dairy-based drinks such as iced lattes and milkshakes
All shelf-stable composite products, unless they are listed in the ‘Exemptions’ section
Shelf-stable composite products that do require individual labelling include:
- baking ingredients
- icing mixes
- meal kits where they contain non-exempt POAO such as cheese
- infant or baby powders and formula
- mayonnaise and pesto
High risk food of non-animal origin (HRFNAO), where it is controlled under Regulation 2019/1793
Such as:
- rice originating from India or Pakistan
- tea originating from China
- peanuts (groundnuts) originating from the United States of America
The goods in scope of Regulation 2019/197 are updated on a regular basis. Check the legislation for an up-to-date list.
Some cut flowers
Cut flowers where they are listed in Part A of Annex XI and Annex XII to the phytosanitary conditions Regulation (EU) 2019/2072, such as:
- cut conifer, pine and fir trees
- cut Christmas trees
- orchids
- roses
- chrysanthemum
.