* States call for origin labels on pork, poultry, lamb
* Countries reject mandatory guideline daily amount labels
* Final deal on EU food label rules unlikely before mid-2011
By Charlie Dunmore
BRUSSELS, Dec 1 (Reuters) - European Union governments will say next week that all pork, poultry and lamb sold in the bloc must carry country-of-origin labels within three years, as part of a deal struck by diplomats on Wednesday.
Origin labels, which are already mandatory for beef, could be extended to milk, unprocessed foods and other goods in future, details of the deal seen by Reuters showed.
The deal on new EU food labelling rules is due to be rubber-stamped by EU health ministers on Dec. 7, but the rules are unlikely to be finalised before mid-2011 after governments rejected a number of proposals by co-legislators in the European Parliament, forcing a second reading of the plans.
One area on which governments and lawmakers in Parliament disagree is nutritional labels on products -- a key element in the draft rules designed to fight rising levels of obesity.
In June the Parliament said companies must label the energy, sugar, salt, protein and fat content of foodstuffs on the front of packages as well as the levels of unsaturated fats and fibre.
In the deal, governments said including unsaturated fats and fibre in the labels should be voluntary and did not specify that nutritional labels -- which would be compulsory within five years -- must appear on the front of packs.
Similarly, governments want "guideline daily amount" or GDA labels for salt, fat, sugar and energy content to be voluntary, rather than mandatory as stipulated by the Parliament.
ALCOPOPS
Governments did back an exemption from nutritional labelling for alcoholic beverages including wine, beer and spirits, but unlike the Parliament they do want to see nutritional labels on alcopops.
The German centre-right lawmaker leading the Parliament's debate on the rules, Renate Sommer, said that was a mistake.
"I'm a little bit afraid that if you put the same labelling on alcopops as you do on fruit juices, this could be misleading for the consumer, because it's not so clear anymore which is which," she said.
Member states agreed that they should be allowed to use additional labelling systems that go beyond the EU rules, provided they are science-based and voluntary, which could allow the UK and others to keep their traffic-light systems.
Traffic-light labels -- which rank the fat, sugar and salt content of food as either high (red), medium (yellow) or low (green) -- are used by UK retailers including J Sainsbury <SBRY.L> and Marks and Spencer <MKS.L>, though others including Tesco <TSCO.L> have resisted the scheme.
The Parliament said EU countries shouldn't be allowed to adopt national labelling systems that go beyond EU regulations.
Sommer said she would begin informal talks with EU governments early next year to try and finalise the rules, and while a final deal could be reached as early as mid-2011, that would depend on how easily lawmakers and governments can resolve their differences. (Reporting by Charlie Dunmore, editing by Jane Baird)
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