Luxembourg, 20/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission will bring forward within the next few weeks two awaited reports on compulsory country of origin labelling of milk and dairy products and of some kinds of meat, unprocessed foodstuffs and single-ingredient products. This was briefly discussed at the Agriculture Council on Monday 20 April.
The Commission ought, by December of last year at the latest, to have presented two reports on the compulsory country of origin labelling for: - meats other than beef, pig, sheep, goat meats and poultrymeat, milk and milk used as an ingredient in dairy products; - unprocessed foodstuffs, single-ingredient products and ingredients forming more than 50% of a foodstuff.
At the Council meeting, Commissioner Phil Hogan (standing in for Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, who was unwell) said that the Commission had had to call for external studies (which explained the delay). These reports should be adopted next week or in the coming weeks.
Eight delegations spoke: those of Sweden, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Italy and Spain. The United Kingdom is happy with the principle of better labelling but laid stress on milk and dairy products. A balance has to be found between the costs for operators and consumers' needs, the British delegation said. Lithuania also highlighted milk.
Belgium again made clear its reticence (the rules on beef had not prevented the scandal over horsemeat in processed foods: this had not been a labelling problem but fraud, Belgium argued). It said that what had to be done was to ensure compliance with current legislation and to take full account of technological feasibility, monitoring opportunities, cost, the functioning of the market and information for consumers. Poland followed a slightly similar line to Belgium (cost analysis before implementation).
Italy highlighted the indication of origin and the importance of the labelling of milk. Spain spoke to say that a balance had to be found between information for consumers and what is possible for the sector. The reports will be discussed at the Agriculture Council in May or in June. (Lionel Changeur)