Brussels, 16/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - At the Agriculture Council in Brussels on Tuesday 15 December, five member states called for more stringent rules in the EU on the origin labelling of honey and tougher checks on imported honey the quality of which may not always be of the highest.
Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia say that the country of origin of the imported product must be specifically labelled as follows: - “blend of honeys originating in EU countries”, - “blend of honeys originating in non-EU countries (naming of the countries)”, - “blend of honeys originating in EU and non-EU countries (naming of the non-EU country/countries)”. In the case of honey blends, the countries think that an indication of the proportion of the honeys originating from different countries is necessary.
They also called on the Commission to play a more proactive role in improving methods to test for false honey arriving on the internal market.
Belgium argued that checks must target imported products and that fraud had to be combatted. It made the point, however, that, before putting new rules in place, current rules should be applied.
Poland said that a risk analysis had to be carried out rather than test every batch. The Czech Republic called for clear labelling of the origin of imported honey. Slovenia emphasised that there had to be equality of treatment between EU operators and those from outside the EU. Slovakia also underlined the need to prevent fraud in imports. Spain highlighted the results of the coordinated monitoring plans and said that testing methods had to be updated. It also had to be determined whether current rules needed to be toughened, Spain suggested. Sweden, too, said that imported honey had to be checked. Greece highlighted the social aspect (consumers go for cheaper products the origin of which is sometimes unknown). Italy argued for origin labelling of honey.
The European Commission drew attention to the rules in the directive on honey (sugar content). A report will be published in mid-2016 on the effectiveness of testing methods and, depending on the findings of this report, the Commission will decide whether further action is needed. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)