Single market for food Archives

Country of origin food labelling will be obligatory only if the main ingredient of a particular food product comes from a different country and the producer wants to have the country of origin label, a European Commission spokesperson told EURACTIV.com.

The European Commission warned Copenhagen to enforce protection of the protected designation of origin “Feta”, following information that Danish companies export the product outside the EU with misleading labelling.

Britain’s agriculture industry must work to “incentivise the implementation of research and development” if it is to compete globally after Brexit, farming leaders told a EURACTIV roundtable in Westminster on Tuesday (16 January).

Europe’s food and drink industry relies heavily on the EU single market to underpin its steady growth rate, but it has warned that Brexit poses a real threat to the future of many businesses.

The EU and Mexico resumed talks Monday (8 January) aimed at sealing a new version of their 18-year-old trade deal, a project that has hit several snags – including the touchy issue of cheese.

Italy and seven other EU countries asked the European Commission on 24 November to allow them to limit rice imports from Cambodia, on the grounds of “protecting the Italian and European Rice industry.” 

An Italian tribunal approved on 22 November the decrees signed by the ministries of agriculture and of economic development to include the country of origin of cereals on rice and pasta labels. The move was welcomed by Coldiretti, Italy’s largest farmers union, but worried the European Commission and pasta makers.

Agriculture and the environment must go hand in hand, taking into account the role that each plays, Italian Minister for Environment Gian Luca Galletti told EURACTIV.com.

The EU’s food and drink industry has joined forces with farmers and agri-food traders to call for a smooth Brexit transition and highlight the damage a cliff-edge EU exit would do to the bloc’s food chain.

The denomination “Greek yogurt” cannot be used for yogurts produced outside Greece, a European Commission spokesperson told EURACTIV.com amid mounting tensions between Athens and Prague on the issue.

The 44 million workers in the EU’s food chain are vital to ensuring European citizens have access to sufficient quantities of high quality food. From farmers to retailers, the sector is constantly evolving to keep up with the major challenges of the future.

France's ministers for health, agriculture and the economy signed on Tuesday (31 October) a decree introducing a voluntary labelling scheme for food products to reduce obesity, causing upheaval in the food industry.

France is facing a shortage of butter in supermarkets, as producers are scrambling to meet increased demand. The price hike should last for months. EURACTIV’s partner Ouest-France reports.

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.

As European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker delivered his State of the European Union address last month, there were several issues which sparked his passion. But one came as a surprise to the audience: fish fingers.

The European Commission said yesterday (26 September) it was ready to advise European consumers to boycott products of lower quality that are presented in Eastern EU countries with exactly the same packaging as in wealthier EU states.

Spain has notified the European Commission on 5 September it will create a new law to include the origin of milk on the label of milk and dairy products, adding fuel to the gastro-nationalism debate.

The European Commission approved last week three applications for geographical indication labels for products from France and Greece, continuing its drive to ensure quality and origin of food produced in the EU.

Europe’s food and drink producers have called on the Commission to come up with EU-wide standards on precautionary allergen labelling, arguing it is a much-needed step towards completing the single market.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker criticised double standards of food quality in his address to Parliament on Wednesday morning (13 September), saying that there should be no “second class consumers” in the single market.

Italy is seeking to reintroduce a requirement to specify the production site on the labels of transformed food products, in fresh defiance of Brussels' food rules after unilaterally mandating country of origin on pasta and rice labels last August.

The European Commission has called on the UK to guarantee the protection of food products labelled with the EU’s geographical indications after Brexit.

Two weeks before the EU-Canada trade agreement enters into force, France evaluates its environmental and health impacts and Belgium challenges the agreement in the European Court of Justice. EURACTIV France reports.

Greece plans to make country of origin labelling on milk mandatory from 2018, joining the growing trend of more precise food labelling in EU countries, which has angered the food industry.