Sustainable, healthy food for all. That is the banner under which the European Commission has placed the food safety programme, to which it proposed on Thursday 7 June to allocate €1.68 billion over seven years from the draft EU multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2021-2027 of 2 May last (see EUROPE 12013).
This programme will be one of the pillars of the new integrated single market programme, presented the same day by the Commission, to strengthen consumer protection and rights and deliver a sound, sustainable food supply chain (see other article).
Its focus will be to protect human, animal and plant health and improve animal welfare by making use of all the synergies with the other financial instruments, in particular the new Horizon Europe programme on research and innovation, the Digital Europe programme, the ESF+ (European Social Fund plus), the Common Agricultural Policy and the Emergency Fund.
The food safety programme will pursue four objectives: - eradicating diseases and pests; - supporting policies to increase animal welfare through improved application of the rules; - improving the effectiveness and reliability of official checks; - supporting sustainable food production and consumption.
The allocation of €1.68 billion out of the €4 billion proposed for the single market programme is clear proof of the importance of this pillar, argued Health and Food Safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis. “This is the recognition of the importance of securing the smooth functioning of the internal market in food products, by preventing and when necessary combating animal and plant diseases that can have major consequences for public health and the EU economy. It allows us to strengthen further our efforts in the areas of animal welfare, food waste and the fight against fraud”, he said.
It does not, however, represent an increase: the current envelope in the 2014-2020 budget is €1.89 billion. But the Commission is proposing to increase EFSA funding by €62.5 million per year, as it recently indicated in its reform of the general food regulation (see EUROPE 11999). This additional funding will make it possible for EFSA to recruit 106 scientists and to carry out additional evaluations in the event of scientific controversy.
Speaking to a small group of journalists on Wednesday 6 June, Commissioner Andriukaitis pointed out that this is a proposal for a post-Brexit multiannual financial framework and that, in the United Kingdom, “there are a number of endemic diseases, such as tuberculosis”. When asked for further comment on the impact of Brexit on food safety policy, the commissioner stated: “Brexit affects the scientific assessments of pesticides. The UK has highly specialised scientists. They also have European laboratories. We already have a clearer picture where these labs will move”. He added: “I have asked the member states to increase the capacities to deal with the increased work load”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)