The European Commission said, on Thursday 23 March, that it would present a delegated act on the highly controversial production methods for organic salt “within a month”.
The Commission gave an update on the dossier to MEPs of the Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture, most of whom were puzzled by the need for such legislation.
Only Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spanish) was clearly in favour of this text (see EUROPE 12827/9).
The Commission has tried to find a compromise between the positions of the sea salt producers and the (industrial) rock salt producers. It will therefore be proposed that techniques using explosives and rock salt dissolution mining will be prohibited, but continuous mining will be authorised. For example, cutting techniques will be possible to produce organic salt.
No additives or processing aids will be allowed (for organic). The possibility of adding yodine to salt for consumption is foreseen. Finally, all agricultural ingredients, for example, ‘dry hair’ of plants added to organic salt, must be organic to bear the logo.
The Commission needs to legislate, as salt has been added to the basic act on organic production, which came into force on 1 January 2022. The EU produces 46 million tonnes of salt per year, 56% of which is used by the chemical industry. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)