Brussels, 02/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption of the consultative report by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL/Portugal) on Tuesday 31 March by 28 votes to 0 and 1 abstention, the agriculture committee approved with a number of amendments a proposal aimed at updating marketing standards for poultrymeat (the current regulation dates back to 1990). In order to take market developments and consumer habits into account, the proposal includes poultrymeat-based preparations, brine-treated poultrymeat and other products in the regulation on marketing standards. The European Parliament's vote on this report will take place during the plenary session from 21-24 April, in Strasbourg.
In order to be sold as “fresh”, poultrymeat and its derived products can under no circumstances have been deep frozen, pursuant to the amendments made by the EP agriculture committee (only poultry kept at a temperature of between -2°C and +4°C can be qualified as “fresh” meat, the committee members say). MEPs also restated on this occasion their firm opposition to the use of substances such as chlorine for decontaminating carcasses.
Compulsory indication of origin and date of slaughter. MEPs take a stance in favour of compulsory mention of the origin of the meat on the label to allow consumers to make a well-informed choice. They also call for the date of slaughter to be marked to give consumers a better idea of how fresh the product is.
In their amendments, MEPs also call for the official withdrawal from the legislative text of all elements likely to open the road to introducing “chlorinated poultry” onto the European market, and underline the fact that the meat intended for human consumption must not undergo any “treatment other than cold”. The Commission proposal provides for making the European definition of “poultrymeat” more flexible to take into account its parallel project of authorising four anti-microbian treatments, including chlorine, in order to decontaminate the poultry carcasses intended for human consumption. This project, however, was categorically refused by the European Parliament in a resolution dated 19 June 2008 (EUROPE 9685) before being axed once and for all by European agriculture ministers on 18 December 2008 (EUROPE 9808). (L.C./transl.jl)