Tag: food labelling

The Romanian prime minister said on Monday (11 February) that any fraud over horsemeat sold as beef had not happened in his country and he was angered by suggestions it might have been.

Reacting to the furore over the discovery of horse meat in Irish beef patties, MEPs on Wednesday (23 January) called for stronger EU labelling laws as Ireland's agriculture minister defended the safety of his country’s meat products.

MEPs have upheld plans to create a fixed number of standardised nutritional claims on food and beverages, paving the way for 222 claims such as "low fat" or "reduced cholesterol" to be carried on food packaging.

A proposal to give food manufacturers more flexibility to promote their products as low in fat, sugar or salt has been a dealt blow when a parliamentary committee voted to block changes to nutritional labels. The full European Parliament is expected to consider the issue tomorrow (2 February). 

Bulgaria's Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov said yesterday (20 April) that his country would officially ask the European Commission to ascertain if multinational companies sell 'lower quality' food products in new EU members, compared to those sold in Western Europe. Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner in Bulgaria, reports.

A deal struck between EU member states on new food labelling rules saw political support for a voluntary GDA labelling scheme currently applied by the food industry across Europe.

Labelling consumer products with their carbon footprint is not the best approach to combating global warming as the labels at their worst increase negative environmental impacts and mislead consumers, according to European consumer organisation ANEC.

The European Parliament yesterday (16 June) voted to make nutrition labelling of pre-packed foods mandatory, but rejected calls by health and consumer organisations' for a traffic light system giving consumers a visual warning for high fat, sugar or salt content of a product.

MEPs have rejected calls for a mandatory EU-wide 'traffic light' system for food labels similar to the one currently applied in the UK, much to the disappointment of European consumer and health groups.

Sweden is developing standards to help consumers make conscious choices about the impact of their decisions on global warming. Products with at least 25% greenhouse gas savings will be marked in each food category, starting with plant production, dairy and fish products.

Clearer food labelling and awareness-raising campaigns can help prevent an obesity epidemic in Europe, Liberal Romanian MEP Magor Imre Csibi told EurActiv in an interview. But taxing high-fat foods is not part of the solution, he added.

A public hearing in the European Parliament on 28 August 2008 saw food industry stakeholders hit out against Commission proposals on nutrition labelling, which they say are overly complex and will push up costs for small businesses.

Amid heavy lobbying from the food industry, the Commission has proposed strict new nutrition labelling rules to help consumers make healthy choices as obesity becomes a serious public health concern across Europe. Food manufacturers and retailers immediately expressed serious concerns over the proposal, describing it as "unworkable".

The EU-27's agriculture ministers have agreed to new organic food production and labelling standards from 2009, but green groups say that the rules are lax and will allow widespread contamination of organic products by genetically modified organisms.

Food labelling has been mandatory in the United States for 15 years, but has not had any affect on consumer behaviour. "Labelling alone will not do the job," argues Sabine Nafziger, from the food and drinks industry confederation CIAA in an interview with EurActiv.

A Greenpeace petition has called for the EU to change its GMO-labelling rules to include milk, eggs, meat and other foods derived from animals fed with genetically modified products.

The use of 'traffic lights' to identify products that are high, medium or low in salt, sugar and fat is one of the schemes under discussion for unified EU food labelling. Industry, however, opposes the proposal.

Consumer organisations throughout the EU urge MEPs to "vote better the second time" on the regulation on nutrition and health claims and to only allow scientifically backed claims in food and drink.

A European level consumer study finds that consumers make choices based on incomplete information and backs the Commission's stand on stricter regulation on health and nutrition claims made on foods.

Foods should be allowed to bear health claims such as 'low fat' even if the level of salt content is unhealthily high, votes Parliament.