At the Agriculture Council on Monday 26 January, several Member States asked the European Commission to present a proposal to extend origin labelling to all food products.
The French minister, Annie Genevard, supported by several of her counterparts (from Austria, Bulgaria, Spain, Finland, Portugal and Romania, in particular), insisted that the Commission present a proposal “as soon as possible” to extend origin labelling “to as many foodstuffs as possible”, specifying the countries of origin where this would not lead to excessive complications.
Italy supported France’s requests, stating that it had set up experimental schemes providing for the compulsory indication of the origin of products for pasta, rice and products containing tomato or pork, “with positive results”.
A number of countries (including Poland, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Belgium) took the view that origin labelling should be limited to the words ‘EU/non-EU’.
The European Commissioner for Health, Oliver Várhelyi, pointed out that European legislation already requires origin labelling for several product categories: beef, pork, meat from sheep, goats and poultry, eggs, fresh fruit and vegetables, honey, olive oil, fishery and aquaculture products, wines and pre-packaged organic products.
“We acknowledge consumers’ interest in food origin”, replied the Commissioner. At the same time, the system must remain “simple and workable, avoid unnecessary burden, and preserve the smooth functioning of the internal market”, he believes.
The Commission is examining the extension of compulsory origin labelling to more products, notably in the proposal on the Common Market Organisation (CMO). “This gives us a clearer legal basis to develop EU origin labelling requirements, sector by sector, where there is consumer interest and where measures are justified and proportionate”, concluded the Commissioner.
Link to the French note: https://aeur.eu/f/ki0 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)