On Thursday, 19 October, the European Parliament called for an ambitious, comprehensive EU protein strategy covering the sustainable production and consumption of all types of protein in the EU, especially plant and animal proteins, to be presented.
The report on this strategy by Emma Wiesner (Renew Europe, Swedish) was adopted with 305 votes in favour, 129 against, and 69 abstentions (see EUROPE 13253/13).
The European Parliament rejected an initial paragraph in the draft report calling for “an appropriate legislative framework to assess requests for authorisation of cell-based food”. In adopting Ms Wiesner’s report, the European Parliament incidentally noted that cell-based food, which is produced by culturing cells isolated from plants and animals, “presents ethical, social, environmental and economic challenges and [that] the Novel Food regulation [...] is not fit for purpose” when it comes to handling this issue.
New genomic techniques. The European Parliament is much more focused on new genomic techniques (NGTs). MEPs believe that it will be “impossible” to increase the production of plant proteins without good-quality plant materials and that new breeding techniques “will provide great opportunities to develop regionally adapted plants and species optimised for European conditions”. The European Parliament is calling for a framework tailored to new breeding techniques to be swiftly adopted so as to enable new robust plant varieties, including protein crops, to be developed faster.
In addition, the European Parliament rejected an amendment tabled by several S&D and Greens/EFA MEPs indicating that reducing the production and consumption of proteins from farmed animals in the European Union, in particular those from animals bred in intensive feed-based systems, would “reduce the heavy dependence on plant proteins for feed”.
During the debate before the vote, Ms Wiesner stated, “We need to produce more protein and more sustainable protein in Europe”. Among the concrete measures aiming to increase protein production in Europe, she mentioned improving plant material through new breeding techniques and [having] a more simple and effective authorisation [process] for new foods. “Farmers can feed their animals protein meal sourced from local grass and pastures rather than soya imported from Brazil”, concluded Emma Wiesner.
The European Commission is working on this issue. Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski indicated that the European Commission was preparing, for the first quarter of 2024, a protein plan that would be based on the 2018 report on protein crops and incorporate current market realities and the objectives of the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy. The European Commission will analyse aspects of protein supply and demand as well as the EU’s dependence on imports. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)