News

The European Commission has put forth a delegated act addressing a new methodology for harmonizing the measurement of food losses and food waste across the EU. The methodology was presented at the 6th meeting of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste on 06/05/2019 at the Regional Committee. The platform, which was launched in 2016, is part of the so-called circular economy and food waste monitoring, aiming to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. The methodology is to monitor the level of food waste and losses at every step of the agri-food chain, with the aim of obtaining the first measurement results by 2020. The Commission wants to publish comprehensive data on food waste levels by mid-2022. The European Parliament and the Council will deliver an opinion on the proposed delegated act until the end of July 2019.
More information is available here.

In Geneva on 06/05/2019, Italian representatives expressed their concern about the World Health Organization’s (WHO) proposals to introduce simplified food labelling using the "Nutriscore" colour label. Nevertheless, a number of EU Member States have gradually supported this labelling scheme in recent months. Nutriscore should simply tell consumers how nutritionally balanced a food product is. Italy opposes this system, stating that the colour coding based on the principle of "nutritional values" is a purely political concept without a scientific basis. Italy is concerned that Nutriscore might discourage consumers from buying some Italian products, such as meat products, olive oils and cheese.
More information is available here.

Nine environmental and health NGOs called on the Commission to take all necessary steps to ban the titanium dioxide additive in a letter to Jyrki Katainen, Vice-President of the European Commission. Food producers use this substance to produce ice creams, confectionery icing or chewing gum. The NGO letter is a reaction to the announcement of the French plan to ban this substance following the findings of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, according to which the substance proved carcinogenic in tested rodents. Titanium dioxide should be discussed by experts of the Special Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCOPAFF) on 13/05/2019.
The letter is available here.

The United Nations (UN) has published a report stating that we are currently approaching the largest species extinction in human history. More than one million species are threatened with extinction in the next few decades. A quarter of all living organisms on Earth are particularly vulnerable to human activities. According to the United Nations, climate change, pollution, deforestation, the spread of agricultural land and other interventions are the causes of the current state. However, about 75% of agricultural production depends on the activity of bees and other pollinators, so the decline in the number of species would also have a significant effect on agriculture. The loss of species is also linked to soil degradation, which has already led to reduced agricultural productivity to 23% of the Earth's surface, according to the UN.
More information is available here.

The EU-Mercosur trade agreement could be concluded in the coming weeks or months, this being confirmed by Jean-Luc Demarty, Director-General of the European Commission for Trade. Negotiations have come to a standstill because of sensitive agricultural issues, especially when FR had prevented some of the proposed compromises. In 2018, the EU offered the Mercosur block an annual quota of 99,000 tonnes of beef, which was considered - in particular by FR - a maximum. FR is no longer blocking negotiations on concessions in the agricultural sector, but the EU nevertheless demands that particularly Brazil improves its supply of car duties and rules of origin and geographical indications (GIs). The next EU-Mercosur negotiation will take place in Argentina in Buenos Aires in the coming week.
More information is available here.