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The True Animal Protein Price (TAPP) Coalition aims to raise animal product prices. The aim should be to reduce the consumption of these products and to reduce the environmental and climatic burden. TAPP Coalition refers to a price increase (through meat taxes) with the term “Sustainability Fee for Meat Products”. According to TAPP Coalition, by 2030, beef and veal prices should increase by 47 eurocents/100 g; pork should be increased by 36 eurocent/100 g; chicken meat should then increase by 17 eurocent/100 g. The price increase should start gradually from 2021. According to TAPP, this could lead to a 30% reduction in chicken meat, 57% in pork and 67% in beef meat by 2030. Overall, by 2030, Member States could receive € 32.2 billion annually through meat taxes. The European Parliament should also address the TAPP Coalition requirement.
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Food companies Danone and Nestlé, along with representatives of retail chains E. Leclerc and Carrefour, joined the pact on food expiration dates prepared by the French Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of the Environment. The initiative was launched thanks to the “Too Good To Go” start-up, which aims to provide consumers with better information about food expiration dates. The overall goal is to reduce the volume of food waste. The companies involved in the pact are committed to strengthening information campaigns as well as strengthening efforts to clarify the difference between the 'use by date' of the product and the 'best before' date.
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The labelling of plant-based alternatives with the names traditionally used for meat products may change after brexit. In 2017, the European Court of Justice judged that purely plant-based products could no longer use dairy names, such as ‘milk’, ‘cheese’, ‘butter’, or ‘yogurt’. In 2019, this decision was also supported by the Committee on Agriculture in its (not yet approved) proposal, in which it supported extending this rule not only to dairy products but also to meat products - so plant-based products cannot use terminology traditionally associated with meat, such as ‘steak’, ‘sausage’, ‘burger’ etc. The UK was the largest market in EU for consumption of plant-based products - up to 40% of the EU meat substitutes market, in the UK is also based a company producing plant-based products (here). With the UK due to withdraw from the European Union, what may reduce the existing obstacles to introducing a ban on the use of meat-related terminology for plant-based products, which could allow a more rapid ban.
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Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides and Ministers at the Council of Ministers on 27/01/2020 stressed the need to introduce global measures against the spread of African swine fever (ASF). Research, public awareness and open and transparent international cooperation should be key aspects. Since 18/11/2019, the disease has not spread in 10 EU Member States except PL, but uncontrolled spread has occurred in Asia. The Commissioner concluded that there would be no reduction in funding or efforts to address the problem of ASF, since 2013 the European Commission has already allocated $ 100 million to fight the spread of the disease.
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Last week, German Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner confirmed Germany's plan to pay up to EUR 1 billion to farmers to support the move towards more environmentally sustainable agriculture. The aid will be targeted at farmers who will comply with the rules on reducing the amount of fertilizer used. According to Klöckner, it is essential to strengthen the sustainability of the agricultural sector but strengthening demands on farmers must be financially compensated.
More information is available here.