Food labelling

Campaigner: Short food supply chain is more than selling local products

Short food supply chains have a multidimensional role to play. They can help revitalise European farms by encouraging young people to work the land, but they also provide cheap and healthy food to consumers and attract tourists, campaigner Geneviève Savigny told EURACTIV.com in an interview.

Food & drink industry boss: Do not confuse ‘quality’ with ‘recipe’ in food debate

What has been mixed in the current dual quality food conversation is ‘quality versus recipe’, as consumers have different preferences on sweetness and saltiness and we just have to accept it, FoodDrinkEurope leader told EURACTIV.com in an interview.

Nestlé boss: Simplified food labels will better inform consumers

Simplified food label schemes like the UK-style traffic light will provide EU consumers clear and simple elements and therefore, better inform them, Marco Settembri told EURACTIV.com in an interview.

Diabetes expert: Urgent need for education ‘at every level’

There is a great need to raise awareness and enhance education on diabetes and a healthier lifestyle “at every level”, Stella de Sabata, head of the International Diabetes Federation, told EURACTIV.com.

Nestlé executive: ‘We are all facing risks of having supply challenges’

Climate change is confronting the European food sector with an unprecedented risk related to supplies of agricultural raw materials, warns Pascal Gréverath.

BEUC: Food labelling should include country of origin for meat

Consumer confidence in food is at low levels. Displaying origin information can boost transparency and help reverse the tide, says Pauline Constant.

Better food labeling to fight chronic diseases

SPECIAL REPORT / The EU, which is currently revising its food labeling rules, should copy the 'traffic-light system' introduced in the UK, says Ilaria Passarani.

Goyens: ‘The EU food system must urgently be strengthened’

On the one year anniversary of the horsemeat scandal, a similar food fraud scandal can easily happen in the EU as the financial penalties for fraud are small and because the Commission does not want mandatory origin labelling for meat in processed meals, says Monique Goyens.

Borg: Labelling isn’t the answer to the horsemeat scandal

The Commissioner for health and consumer affairs tells EURACTIV that the horsemeat scandal should be seen for what it is: a fraud rather than a flaw in the regulation. He favours introducing tougher penalties for such incidents, but believes food labelling should be kept as a separate issue.

Heart health expert: Consumers deserve ‘useful’ food information

Ahead of a European Parliament vote tomorrow (16 June) on a European Commission proposal for a Regulation on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers, the director of the European Heart Network (EHN) called on MEPs to back "fair presentation" of the nutritional content of food products.

MEP: ‘Taxing fatty foods won’t help curb obesity’

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.

CIAA on food labelling

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.

‘Industry unlikely to self-regulate’

Food labelling and advertising to children are two areas where industry is unlikely to be able to self-regulate and legislation is therefore required, argues Sue Davies from the UK consumer organisation Which?.