On Monday 6 March, the Agriculture Council discussed a quality and labelling policy problem involving certain processed products. Hungary and Slovakia have conducted studies which found that the composition of products sold under the same name and with the same labelling could sometimes differ from one member state to another even though they came from the same supplier.
The two delegations called on the Commission to consider appropriate action – including legislative – that should be taken at European level to address this issue. Slovakia argued this was an ethical concern with regard to European consumers.
Poland and Croatia backed the calls of the two countries. Germany suggested that setting up new agency or putting in place new standards were to be avoided. The commissioner with responsibility for this matter, Vera Jourova, said at the Council meeting that a solution had to be found as this practice may be “misleading”. She pointed out that discussion was taking place in the network bringing together the Commission and national authorities and also within the high-level forum for a better functioning food supply chain. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)