Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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Council Minutes, 14 July 2014
The following is an extract from the minutes of the Agriculture and Food Council Meeting on 14 July 2014
At the request of the Swedish delegation the Commission briefed the Council about food controls and food fraud, and action taken since the "horsemeat scandal" (11613/14).
Several member states agreed that the "scandal" showed that fraud along the food chain is both widespread and of a cross-border nature. Given that the fraud is multifaceted, it is important to strengthen cooperation between institutional stakeholders with a variety of competences.
The Commission underlined that, following the "horsemeat scandal", an action plan in five points was initiated in March 2013 and is still ongoing. One of the actions concerns the strengthening of controls on fraud in the food sector with the setting up of a specific EU network linking the Commission and the member states. Recent tests to detect the presence of horse meat in food have been performed in the member states and the Commission should report to the Council on the results soon.
