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The French company Danone is one of only 6 companies, selected from around 8,400, who received a AAA score from the CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project). The non-profit organization CDP gave the company a high mark for its efforts in environmental protection, climate protection or in combating deforestation. Danone has set mid-term carbon reduction targets after 2030 as part of its commitment to carbon neutrality throughout the value chain by 2050.
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Nestlé has recently confirmed an increase in investment in the processing and production of recycled food plastics to replace non-recycled packaging with recycled packaging by 2025, achieving the company's carbon neutrality by 2050. Nestlé (but also Danone, Carrefour, or Intermarché) has also recently joined the initiative of the Danish company 'Too Good To Go', which is fighting food waste by raising awareness and understanding of the date of food consumption. According to the Commission, misunderstanding of the use-by date leads to up to 20% of household food waste, up to 53% of Europeans do not recognize the difference between the terms 'best by' and 'use by'.
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The German government seeks to reverse the trend of falling food retail prices in retail chains. German Chancellor Angela Markel and German Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner met with representatives of retail chains last week, calling for enhanced support for farmers. The meeting was a reaction to several protests by farmers who criticized the very low food retail prices in the chains. Klöckner stressed that it is not possible to sell food at low prices while at the same time continuing to strengthen food quality and safety standards. According to Klöckner, retail chains should be morally and ethically responsible.
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Spanish farmers protested on 05/02/2020 before the Ministry of Agriculture in Madrid in order to ensure a better position for small and medium-sized farmers in the food supply chain. According to farmers, large supermarkets must stop prioritizing the interests of large suppliers; farmers also called for a fair Common Agricultural Policy, rejected the cuts in the CAP budget, and called for mandatory labelling of the country of origin for all foodstuffs. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, following a protest by farmers, called on large supermarkets to self-criticize their attitude towards small and medium-sized farmers. According to the Prime Minister, large supermarkets should carry out an assessment study and strengthen transparency in order to protect small and medium-sized farmers and livestock production.
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African swine fever (ASF) is still slowly spreading across the EU Member States, except for the Czech Republic. In its report " Epidemiological analyses of African swine fever in the European Union", published on 30/01/2020, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) states that ASF is progressing, though slowly, mainly towards the southwest. Between November 2018 and October 2019, the disease was confirmed in Slovakia, Serbia, western Poland and Belgium. EFSA experts have pointed out the uncontrolled movement of pigs and individuals and poor biological protection and identification of breeding.
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