During the EU ‘Agriculture’ Council of Monday 30 January, the Slovenian Minister, supported by 19 of her counterparts, asked the European Commission to provide for measures to ensure the labelling of honey and the origin of honey blends imported from third countries.
These countries (Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain) have called (https://aeur.eu/f/55q ) for a revision of the Honey Directive to provide clearer labelling of the origin of honey blends. Slovenia advocates for an obligation to indicate each country of origin and its respective share of honey in marketed mixtures. The Czech Republic has also requested a revision of the Honey Directive.
France considered that the revision of the rules would make it possible to “enhance the quality of European products and combat counterfeiting”. Greece has denounced the unfair competition of adulterated honey due, in particular, to imports from China. The ‘blend of EU and non-EU honeys’ label should be replaced by a label that shows the names of the countries of origin and the share of honey from different sources, the Greek agriculture minister argued.
However, some Member States, including Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands, have referred to the administrative burden of accurate labelling of blends of imported honeys and the cost to the food chain.
The European Commission intends to revise the Regulation on the provision of food information to consumers to broaden the scope of the origin labelling requirement. Initially expected in 2022, the proposal to revise the ‘Honey Directive’ is expected to be adopted by the Commission in March 2023. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)