The European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture called, on Monday 22 May, on the European Commission to further strengthen the rules on honey labelling by making it compulsory to indicate each country of origin, in descending order, and its respective share of honey (as a percentage) in order to help consumers make better purchasing decisions and improve the added value of European products on the market.
In its proposal of 21 April, the Commission proposes in particular the compulsory indication of each country of origin (Member States and third countries) of honey (see EUROPE 13167/1): insufficient, in the eyes of Daniel Buda (EPP, Romanian), Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spanish) or Ulrike Müller (Renew Europe, German), who demanded the obligation for operators to mention the percentages of the share of honey for each third country in cases of mixtures of honey.
Like the other MEPs, Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, German) welcomed the Commission’s proposals on ‘breakfast directives’, but called for further progress to be made by indicating the regions of origin of bees.
Adulterated honey. Responding to MEPs’ queries, the European Commission representative said that one in two samples of honey imported into the EU is adulterated: “This is huge”, he observed. 46% of the samples tested were suspected of being adulterated. Checks are being carried out to prevent suspect operators (a list of whom has been drawn up and sent to customs authorities) from selling adulterated honey in Europe, the Commission said. “Then, it will be necessary to take action with third countries and provide for authorisations to export to the EU”, the institution said.
Country of origin. The Commission proposes a list of countries of origin of honey. Indication of the share of honey per third country would be very costly and very difficult to control, the Commission replied. “Introducing such a requirement implies control measures and methods to trace the origin of honey”, the Commission said. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)