Brussels, 16/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - Drawing the lessons of the horsemeat scandal, France called on the European Commission, on Monday 15 July, to take action in order to make it compulsory to state the origin of the meat in ready-made dishes.
According to the French deputy minister for consumer policy, Benoît Hamon, who met the European Health Commissioner Tonio Borg in Brussels, Borg confirmed that the Commission would present a report early September on the timeliness of such a labelling measure.
“We must make headway. We must move faster so that the EU can ensure better traceability and transparency”, Hamon said in a press briefing on the sidelines of a meeting of European agriculture ministers. France, which is at the forefront of cattle production, is “open on the matter of thresholds” after which the obligation in question could be imposed, he added, acknowledging that, for ready-made dishes containing only 2% of meat, such a measure would be superfluous.
“A growing number of states are in favour of greater traceability”, Hamon assured, citing support from Finland, Portugal and Greece in particular for the setting in place of this “new shield”. Italy is also in the lead in this field.
During a debate at the Agriculture Council, Denmark, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom, nonetheless, reiterated their reservations, considering that the labelling obligation did not prevent fraud, as one European source said. Furthermore, the United Kingdom called for implementation of a second round of DNA testing (like that in March). The Commission does not object to this.
With regard to labelling of origin, the Commission pointed out that labelling mentioning the origin of meat used in processed products is a problem that is very different to that of fraud, as fraud consists of circumventing regulatory provisions. Countries such as Romania and Poland have said it is important that, in this kind of scandal, the “source” countries should be challenged on the basis of evidence and not on assumption - otherwise there would be a risk for agri-food chains.
The horsemeat scandal erupted in January, in Ireland and the United Kingdom, with the discovery of hamburgers containing horsemeat. Further to this discovery, millions of ready-made dishes were withdrawn from supermarkets, thus shattering consumer confidence. The Commission said that “results of the extensive EU-wide testing for undeclared horsemeat and for (phenylbutazone) residues in horsemeat confirmed that this did not pose a threat to food safety”. Criminal investigations are continuing in at least three member states, the Commission said, going on to present measures as part of the animal health package and plant health package which provide for: - the review of rules on official controls which will strengthen control tools and increase penalties for fraud; - the creation of a permanent network of food fraud correspondents in the member states to work with a food fraud team recently created within the Commission services; - and strengthened rules on horse passports. (LC/transl.jl)