Food safety
Mercosur: Don’t sacrifice our food standards and tropical forests for trade
The trade agreement currently being negotiated by the EU and Morcosur will increase poverty and accelerate the demise of European farmers by subjecting them to unfair competition, argue Perrine Fournier and Yannick Jadot.
EU farmers: Prevention is better than cure for sustainable livestock
Prevention is far better than cure when it comes to animal diseases and creation of sustainable livestock. Vaccination may play a role in reducing the need for antibiotics, but it needs to be accompanied by other "tools", like education and training, farmer representatives and EU politicians have told EURACTIV.
Insufficient consideration for food issue in CAP
Olivier De Schutter, a co-chair of the international expert panel IPES-Food, calls on the European Commission to lay the foundations for a Common Food Policy. EURACTIV.fr reports.
Innovation in animal health: Sifting the tangible actions from the political ideas
Over the past fifty years, the EU has done a stellar job in moving from a very fragmented national approach to animal disease control to a progressively more harmonised system of animal health measures, disease surveillance, diagnosis and control, writes Roxane Feller.
Equal standards for food across the EU: A matter of taste? No, a matter of quality!
What is in the food that we buy? It’s a question whose answer is less certain than it should be. Shockingly, many food manufacturers find it acceptable to sell their food with standard packaging throughout the EU, but with very different content, and often lower quality, in different countries, writes Lilyana Pavlova.
EFSA boss: EU food law overhaul ‘a big step towards transparency’
The European Commission has learned its lesson from the glyphosate controversy and is coming forward with “bold proposals” on transparency, says Bernhard Url. The raw data of all industry-funded studies related to pesticides will be made publicly available under Commission plans, he told EURACTIV in an interview.
Farmers hail new transparency rules in food safety, still want science-based decisions
EU farmers have welcomed the European Commission’s new rules on transparency in food safety assessments. However, it is still uncertain to which extent this will ensure that future decisions will actually be based on science.
Plight of the bees hits unaware businesses
Declining numbers of bees, butterflies and midges could leave companies facing the prospect of reduced crop quality and a shortage of raw materials. A United Nations-backed study found that most businesses surveyed were unsure of what action to take.
Safety first: Food packers shun recycled plastics, for now
Tetra Pak, the iconic Swedish maker of beverage cartons, is currently staying away from using recycled plastics in the inside lining of its packages – the most sensitive bit that comes in contact with drinks.
Survey: Major retailers and producers in Germany back binding meat label
A number of major retailers and meat producers see the idea of a legally binding label on meat in positive light, according to a Greenpeace survey published on 27 March.
Land degradation threatens wellbeing of two-fifths of humanity, major report warns
Land degradation caused by human activities undermines the well-being of at least 3.2 billion people, costs more than 10% of annual global GDP in lost ecosystem services and endangers food security, warn a hundred experts from 45 countries in a three-year assessment report published yesterday (26 March).
Why Poland plans to build a 1,200 km wall
Poland has decided to build a wall on its eastern border by 2020 to effectively tackle swine fever. The aim of the wall is to prevent wild boars carrying the disease from entering the territory, a decision that is far from convincing experts.
Greenpeace: Commission and member states playing ‘hide and seek’ on neonics ban
The European Commission is playing hide and seek with member states regarding a ban on neonicotinoids, and this benefits pesticide manufacturers who keep on killing bees and the environment, Greenpeace claims.
Greece authorises Monsanto’s Roundup for five years
The Greek ministry of agriculture officially approved on Tuesday (6 March) the re-authorisation of the world's most commonly used weedkiller, Monsanto’s Roundup, which contains controversial chemical substance glyphosate.
Salmonella on the rise again, EU officials admit
The incidence of Salmonella in humans was almost halved between 2004 and 2009 but new figures show that it has re-appeared, causing worries for food producers and health workers, but also for EU policymakers.
EU renews toxic pesticide amid safety uncertainty
The European Commission and the member states extended once again the authorisation for copper sulphate, a controversial pesticide used in organic farming, which is on the EU’s “substitution” list and its effects on consumers are still unknown.
France to exempt farmers from glyphosate ban when no alternative
France will exempt farmers from a ban on using the weed-killer glyphosate in three years time where there is no credible alternative to the most widely used pesticide in the world, President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday (25 January).
MEPs back down from EU bisphenol ban
MEPs have shied away from demanding a full ban on Bisphenol A, instead approving measures that will lower the amount of the chemical that can be part of food packaging.
EU kebab-ban? All smoke and no roast
An objection aimed at banning phosphate from kebab meat, to be voted in the European Parliament on Tuesday (12 December), has started a Europe-wide controversy, fuelled by a German conservative MEP and fake news. EURACTIV France reports.
Combat digestive diseases with tighter controls on the alcohol and food industry
You are what you eat, the saying goes, but what about what we drink? Dietary regulations across Europe need to be stricter if digestive disease rates are to fall, writes Thierry Ponchon.
Bayer to grant access to product safety studies to rebuild public trust
German chemical firm Bayer will next week launch a transparency initiative providing EU consumers with access to the safety data of its products, aiming to restore the dwindling trust in the sector, EURACTIV.com has learnt.
Commission’s formaldehyde U-turn shows need to separate science from politics, emotion
Chemicals, even naturally occurring ones, often sound scary, and they certainly can be hazardous. But most, when appropriately managed, deliver significant benefits, writes Rick Phillips.
Spain reports another case of mad cow disease
A case of "mad cow disease" has been discovered in northwestern Spain, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday (27 November).