News

Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevichius, together with the Director General of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Inger Andersen, launched the International Coalition for the Protection of Biodiversity on 03/03/2020. The Coalition brings together over 200 world aquariums, zoos, and national parks to raise awareness of the problem of biodiversity loss and the campaign against plastic pollution. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) called on the European Commission to publish an assessment of the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy on biodiversity. The document has already been prepared by the Commission but has not yet been published. The European Commission should publish impact assessments at the end of March, together with the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Biodiversity Strategy. More information is available here.

Italy sent a letter to the European Commission asking for mandatory introduction of country of origin labelling on the packaging of all foodstuffs. Currently, this obligation applies only to fresh meat. According to representatives of the Italian government, the country of origin marking should become one of the key aspects of the new Farm to Fork Strategy. According to the unofficial proposals of the Farm to Fork Strategy, the European Commission could consider extending the country of origin labelling to meat, milk and dairy products. Italy also requested the Commission to extend the provisional national rules on origin marking on milk, cheese, processed meat, pasta, rice and tomato packaging from the original date (end of April 2020) until the end of 2021. More information is available here.

Poland adopted a new law aimed at combating food waste; the law came into force at the beginning of March 2020. Polish traders are now obliged to donate unsold food, food must not be thrown away anymore. A fine of EUR 0,02 should be imposed on traders per kilogram of food thrown away. In the meantime, the regulation only concerns larger shops (over 400 square meters), but in the future Poland should extend the legislation to small retailers as well. More information is available here.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) regularly reports that a third of the foods available to consumers ends up as food waste or food losses. According to a research team from the Dutch University of Wageningen, however, FAO data are no longer up to date - figures reported by FAO were first calculated in 2005 and published in 2007. Researchers' methodology and conversion of food waste to calories lost in the supply chain do not consider consumers. According to a study by a Dutch university, a reference 8% (in calories) of food waste could increase to 19% after applying the correct methodology. More information is available here.

A group of 33 scientists from around the world published a study on 03/03/2020, pointing out that the risks of some substances in food contact materials are currently unknown. According to researchers, there are substances that appear in food contact materials where the risks are properly investigated and assessed (bisphenol A or phthalates), but thousands of substances lack a proper assessment of their toxicity or the impact of their exposure on consumer health. According to the study, this mainly concerns recycled materials and alternatives to plastic packaging, such as paper or cardboard packaging. Around 160 world citizens' groups, in response to the study, called on the European Commission, among other things, to improve legislation on food contact materials. The European Commission is currently reviewing the legislation, the report was to be published in 2020, but the Commission postponed publication until 2022. More information is available here.