Brussels, 10/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - A draft regulation on the origin of fresh meat and meat used in ready-made dishes will be presented in October. It is expected to enter into effect by the end of the year, France's minister of the economy announced on Friday 6 September.
In July this year, France called on the European Commission to take action in order to bring in compulsory labelling showing the origin of meat used in ready-made dishes further to lessons learned from the horsemeat scandal (see EUROPE 10889).
Benoît Hamon, France's social and consumer affairs minister met European Health Commissioner Tonio Borg on 6 September. Borg is preparing to improve labelling on the origin of meat and France hopes to explore the matter further by extending it to ready-made meals. “Tonio Borg used the meeting to announce that the Commission will be co-financing a new round of DNA testing on batches of meat for all member states by the end of the year”, the French Ministry's press release states.
Other countries have embraced the French position. “Several member states are now working along these lines (especially Germany, Greece, Portugal and Finland), speaking in very open terms of future developments in France and at Community level”, the press release concludes (our translation throughout). (LC/transl.jl)