News

Slovak Minister of Agriculture Gabriela Matečná announced on 02/12/2019 that food controls throughout the Slovak supply chain were strengthened. According to her, Slovakia is one of the most successful EU countries in the field of food safety and control system due to high safety standards and frequent food controls. According to the ministry, 47,722 inspections were carried out in the period from 1 January to 30 October 2019, which represents a year-on-year increase of 6,000 inspections. The State Veterinary and Food Administration impose fines for a number of misconducts, including the sale of goods after the expiry of the minimum durability period. The Austrian retail chain Billa has already been fined € 1 million, but Billa refuses to pay the fine. According to a new amendment to the Act, which entered into force in Slovakia in May 2019, the fine must be paid within 15 days. In the event of non-payment, companies will face additional legal consequences.
More information is available here.

World chocolate producers Mars Wrigley, Mondelēz and Barry Callebaut signed a statement on 02/12/2019 calling on the European Union, to prevent further deforestation and control human rights violations in the cocoa trade through a due diligence system (EU regulation), with the aim of ensuring a level playing field for all companies in the processing chain. Cocoa production is considered to be one of the main causes of deforestation and human rights violations. The initiative of the largest chocolate producers comes at a time when the deforestation issue is expected to be dealt within the framework of the so-called European Green Deal. The EC has refused to comment on the corporate initiative, but is considering due diligence, market control and product labelling systems with the possibility of specific measures for commodities such as soy, palm oil and beef.
More information is available here.

Last week, Member States voted within the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed on the renewal of the license for the use of chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl; states voted against further use of both substances. The decision must now be formally approved by the European Commission, probably in January 2020, and Member States will then have to withdraw all authorizations for products containing these substances. A short three-month transition period will be introduced, after which substances will no longer be placed on the market or used in the EU.

Around 160 non-governmental animal welfare organizations supported the call to the European Commission for the introduction of legislation to end cage farming in the EU. In a joint letter to the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission (Frans Timmermans), the Commissioner for Agriculture (Janusz Wojciechowski) and the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety (Stella Kyriakides), the organizations supported a citizens' initiative called End of the Cage, which managed to secure a record 1.6 million signatures of citizens from a number of EU countries. According to animal welfare organizations in the European Union, more than 300 million animals each year spend a significant part of their lives in cages - the letter mentions mainly laying hens and rabbits that are kept in an A4-sized paper space. According to organizations, intensive livestock production leads to the suffering of millions of animals, is not sustainable and is one of the reasons for the current climate change.
More information is available here.

The European Commission announced on 02/12/2019 that the EU Platform for Animal Welfare, which is regularly organized and which is attended by EU experts and representatives of non-governmental animal welfare organizations, will remain active until 30 June 2021 at the latest. According to the EC statement, the next meeting is planned for the first semester of 2020. The platform was established by Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis in 2017.
More information is available here.