Foodlaw-Reading

Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK

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Food Law News - EU - 2018

Commission Consultation, 19 September 2018

LABELLING - Origin-labelling for meat – Consultation and evaluation roadmap

The Commission is undertaking an evaluation of the requirements for the origin-labelling for meat.  They have provided a ‘roadmap’ document and established a public internet consultation page.  The cosultation closes on the 16th October 2018. The following are the introductory sections from the document.

Context

General rules on food information to consumers aim at helping consumers to make informed decisions. This is why the rules stipulate that certain information must appear on a food label on a mandatory basis, for example: the name of the food, the list of ingredients, the net quantity, the date of minimum durability or ‘used by’ date. For specific food products, the country of origin or place of provenance must also be indicated. This is the case for example for fresh, chilled and frozen meat of swine, sheep, goats and poultry.

In 2013, several options were considered on how to implement the mandatory origin labelling for certain meats. Finally, to strike a balance between consumer needs to be well informed and additional costs for operators and national authorities, the introduction of a mandatory label on meat packaging that informs about the place of rearing and slaughtering was proposed. On 13 December 2013 the European Commission adopted Regulation 1337/2013 laying down rules as regards the indication of the country of origin or place of provenance for fresh, chilled and frozen meat of swine, sheep, goats and poultry. This Regulation entered into force on 1 April 2015.

Purpose and scope

The evaluation will assess whether the rules on food information to consumers as regards the mandatory origin labelling for certain meats as applied in Members States are effective, efficient, coherent, relevant and bring EU added value in view of its objectives, current needs and problems. The evaluation includes an overview of the implementation and application of the Regulation in every EU Member State. Furthermore, it should identify any administrative burden, existing barriers/obstacles, best practices and/or new challenges. This should lead, as appropriate, to recommendations on the possible need for adjustments. The evaluation aims at covering the situation on the EU markets and to assess all aspects of the Regulation from its entry into force on 1 April 2015 onwards.

The Commission is legally required to submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council to evaluate the mandatory indication of the country of origin or place of provenance for fresh, chilled and frozen meat of swine, sheep, goats and poultry by 1 April 2020.

The present evaluation will provide input for this report, taking due account of the EU policy on the issue of origin labelling.

Origin-labelling for meat - evaluation

A copy of the document is available on this site (click on image). For more details and to access the consultation page, see: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/initiatives/ares-2018-3112936_en


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