Brussels/Luxembourg, 17/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - At the Agriculture Council in Luxembourg on Tuesday 15 June, several countries, including Italy, were critical of the conclusions drawn in two reports by the Commission on the compulsory country of origin labelling: one on milk and dairy products and the other on certain types of meat, unprocessed foods and single-ingredient products. Other countries, however, welcomed the Commission's conclusions.
In summary, the Commission formed the view that consumers would not be prepared to pay more just to have the origin of the milk, dairy product or some meats compulsorily featuring on the labelling. The Commission repeated somewhat its mantra: legislation is only put in place if it is useful, and that would not seem to be the case in this instance.
The Italian minister felt the Commission conclusions in its two reports were unacceptable. He argued that it was important to know where products, especially milk, came from.
The United Kingdom agrees with the principle of indicating origins but not for all products. The British delegation backed origin labelling for dairy products, especially those that have undergone little or no processing. Portugal felt that the labelling of milk and dairy products would enhance transparency and made reference to the lessons to be learnt from the crisis in the milk sector. Croatia, too, was in favour of labelling of origin for milk.
France saw labelling of origin as a key demand from consumers to restore confidence in a number of sectors. France noted that the Commission report says that labelling of origin in the horse meat and game meat sectors would not be excessively costly. France, then, wants to see compulsory labelling of origin for horse meat and game meat.
Belgium supported the conclusions of the reports but called for increased monitoring to avoid fraud (a reference to the scandal of horse meat being detected in prepared dishes that were sold as being beef). Poland, too, backed the Commission's conclusions (that is, voluntary labelling of origin), as did the Netherlands. Ireland argued that a balance had to be found between the information to be provided to consumers and the costs involved for operators. (Lionel Changeur)