Brussels, 12/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - Keen to ensure the traceability of all meat and milk, the European Parliament is losing patience with the do-nothing attitude of the Commission but will not back down. This was made clear in Strasbourg on Thursday 12 May when it adopted a resolution (by the wide majority of 422 votes to 159, with 68 abstentions) repeating its oft-made call for the Commission finally to bring forward legislative proposals imposing compulsory country of origin or place of provenance labelling of meats other than beef, swine, sheep, goat and poultry meat, meat used in processed foods, drinking milk and milk used in dairy products (see EUROPE 11518). Parliament also asked the Commission to consider extending the compulsory indication of country of origin or place of provenance to other single-ingredient foods or those with one main ingredient.
In taking up this issue yet again, MEPs want to ensure greater transparency along the whole food chain, address the legitimate right of consumers to be better informed and restore confidence dented by the scandal of horse meat being passed off as beef in processed foods.
More than 90% of Europeans want to see labelling of this sort on processed dishes, 88% consider it necessary to indicate the origin of meat other than beef, swine, sheep, goat and poultry meat and 84 % consider it necessary to indicate the origin of milk. The Commission has so far refused to move, highlighting the high costs that would be involved in such a measure, Parliament notes.
“Labelling of origin is compulsory for fresh meat. There is absolutely nothing to prevent this also being the case for processed dishes and for milk. Companies which have voluntarily decided to inform citizens have increased their price by 0.67%. The Commission's argument would seem, then, to be driven more by the agri-food sector than by the interests of the people!” commented MEP Marc Tarabella (S&D, Belgium) who sits on the consumer protection and agriculture committees.
The European Consumer Organisation, BEUC, has welcomed Parliament's vote and expects the Commission to act as a consequence. “A study conducted by one of our member organisations shows that more than half of processed products, including sausages and ready-meals sold in France fail to indicate the origin of the meat. Only binding rules can bridge the gap”, said Ilaria Passarani, Head of the Food and Health Department at BEUC. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)