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It is always a pleasure to visit London, and particularly so to come here to have this discussion with such a distinguished panel at this morning's Round Table on Food Quality, Food Safety and Food Production.
Allow me to express my appreciation, and that of the European Commission as a whole, for giving of your time and expertise to participate in this Round Table.
Franz Fischler and I have taken the initiative of hosting these Round Tables in the Member Sates to consult representatives of farmers, industry, retailers, scientists, academics and, especially, consumers. We want to get broadly-based views on food quality, safety and production.
These views will feed into our policy development in such diverse areas as the mid-term review of the Common Agricultural Policy and new legislation on labelling.
Our approach is novel in European terms and reflects the Commission's developing thinking on governance within the Union.
Quite frankly, it would have been much easier to hold one, big conference in Brussels to discuss these issues. But Franz and I wanted to get away from the predictability and formality of such an approach. We want to get direct input from stakeholders in each Member State in a confidential, Round Table, format.
The United Kingdom has been under the proverbial microscope for some years in relation to food production issues. BSE has, notably, put enormous pressure on the agricultural sector, and related food production and distribution sectors.
This situation has replicated itself in almost all European countries, with BSE itself, not to mention dioxin, sewage sludge in animal feed, contamination of olive residue oil, to mention just a few of the scandals that have been to the fore.
And scandals they are. They have been shocking and must not be repeated. And we must put systems in place to ensure as far as humanly possible that we are not confronted with similar, or worse, episodes in the years ahead.
But before I go into food safety policy, let me say a few words about the situation here in the UK, particularly against the background of the Foot and Mouth Disease crisis.
The impact of FMD here has been profound. It has left a gaping wound in the agricultural sector and in the rural economy that will take generations to heal. The pain and hurt for individual farmers and their families may never heal.
Four million animals slaughtered, with large tracts of the countryside affected, particularly in Northern England. In this area alone some 25,000 jobs are in jeopardy in agriculture, hotels, restaurants, retail distribution and in the food and drink sector.
Looking at the bigger picture, I feel that this episode in symptomatic of the decline in the agricultural sector in the UK over the past 25 years. This sector now accounts for only 1% of domestic GDP, compared with 3%, twenty five years ago. Yet over the same period productivity has more than doubled.
It is essential that the FMD crisis be effectively put behind us if the decline in the UK's agricultural sector is to be adequately addressed.
In so far as the European Commission can, I can tell you that we will put our shoulder to the wheel and play our part. I am particularly interested to hear any ideas you have with which we could help.
So far in my term as Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, my agenda has been dominated, quite rightly, by food safety considerations.
Shortly into our mandate, the Commission published our White Paper on Food Safety. This is our blueprint for concrete action on food safety over the coming years.
It included our ideas for the establishment of a European Food Authority. Following an extensive consultation, we adopted our proposals for legislation for the creation of the Authority. These have made significant progress in the European Parliament and in the Council of Ministers with the mandate from the Heads of State and Government to have the new body up and running from the beginning of next year.
I am pleased that we are on track to achieve this mandate. I hope that the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers can continue the momentum to have the legislation finalised by December of this year so that the Authority can be up and running as quickly as possible in 2002.
While I do not expect the new European Food Authority to undertake food safety research itself, I expect that it will have a key interest in ensuring that the very best research is carried out in Europe in this arena.
Food safety research is absolutely crucial if we are to develop the technological means to address known and unknown safety concerns. It must be carried out to the highest and most rigorous standards, including ethical standards. Similarly, it must be validated in appropriate reference laboratories and peer reviewed.
It is only against such a background that scientific research can provide an effective contribution to the evaluation of risk by the European Food Authority. And subsequently to the process of risk management by the Commission, Council and Parliament as appropriate.
But while my agenda has been heavily charged with safety issues looking to the future with the Authority, or looking after the present with new legislation to cope with the BSE crisis I have also commenced to look at wider issues of quality and production in the food chain.
As a public authority operating at the European level, the Commission has key responsibilities for ensuring that the systems of public health protection in respect of assuring safe food are up to the highest possible standards achievable.
But our consumers are increasingly concerned with perhaps less tangible issues than safety. Fundamentally, they expect safe food.
They demand that food processors deliver on this. And they expect public authorities, at local, regional, national and European level to make sure that the inspection and audit of safety systems are carried out to exacting standards.
Consumers are now as much, or more, concerned with quality, taste, appearance, nutritional value and ethical values in regard to food. They demand more and more variety.
They expect food to be produced and processed in accordance with good farming practices, with greater respect for the environment and for the welfare of food producing animals.
Modern methods of production of food have brought new worries to the eyes of consumers. In the recent Foot and Mouth Disease crisis, people witnessed the very fast spread of the disease across large distances. While no threat to public health was involved, consumers began to wonder about the need for such large-scale transport of animals.
Many were made aware for the first time that this was a facet of the evolution of our food production system. People are now questioning the need for large-scale transport of animals, not to mention highly intensive farming practices.
People are also increasingly aware that the "footprint" of modern agro-food production is very large in terms of its impact on the environment. They are asking how more sustainable methods can be developed, promoted and introduced.
These types of concerns are evidently developing. But equally, there are segments of the consumer population who are more concerned about the price they pay for food than with broader questions.
How are their concerns for cheap food to be met if quality standards are to be driven up at significant cost? Or is there a trade off between higher quality standards and retail demand? How can people tell if one product is better quality then the next? Or, are consumers dependent on price alone as a determinant of quality?
These are, I believe, crucial questions and crucial issues for the development of this debate. These are important issues for producers, distributors and retailers. But, fundamentally, they are choices for society as a whole.
That is why, for example, we have posed the questions:
I am very pleased that there is a real and genuine debate underway across Europe about the extent to which our systems of agricultural production and food production contribute to, or mitigate against, higher quality foodstuffs on consumers plates. There is a welcome realisation that quantity has, in the past, been given undue weight by comparison with quality.
Reforms are underway to correct this imbalance. In our recent policy decisions on sustainable development, the Commission decided that the mid-term review of the Common Agricultural Policy next year should reward quality rather than quantity.
It could do this, for example, by encouraging the organic sector and other environmentally-friendly farming methods and a further shift in support from market supports towards rural development.
This debate on food quality, safety and production that we are promoting will gather pace over the next year or so. No doubt we will hear loudly from producer interests. But centre stage must be consumer interests. The interests of consumers must be placed first. Modern agro-food producers can only succeed if that is the case.