News

On 17/04/2019, the European Parliament approved the so-called Consumer Package, which was agreed by the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council of the EU in the trialogue of 21/03/2019. Before the final vote in plenary, a group of six MEPs, including Czech MEP Olga Sehnalová (S&D), tried to propose an amendment that would tighten the wording of the dual quality clause - the aim of the proposal was to ban dual quality directly. One day before the vote, MEPs discussed the amendment, but the meeting indicated that most MEPs would have abstained from voting on this particular proposal, therefore on 17/04/2019, Olga Sehnalová’s proposal was not voted on. Thus, the consumer package and the dual quality clause were approved in the original version (dual quality included in the list of misleading unfair practices), 474 Members voted in favour, 163 opposed and 14 abstained. The final version of the Consumer Package should now be formally endorsed by the EU Council. The Commission will be reviewing its effectiveness after the Directive enters into force for a period of two years, after which it will eventually be able to decide to include dual quality in a list of so-called black, i.e. forbidden, unfair commercial practices.
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On 15/04/2019, Austrian Minister of Agriculture Elisabeth Köstinger called for the introduction of mandatory labelling of origin for food processed in the EU. Mandatory labelling aims to ensure the competitiveness of European farmers, imported food should meet the high quality standards of the EU, according to Köstinger.

On 17/04/2019, the European Parliament approved a regulation proposal on the transparency and sustainability of risk assessments in the food chain in the EU. The new regulation was adopted by the vote of 603 in favour, 17 against and 27 abstentions. The regulation obliges all companies producing, for example, genetically modified foods, additives, flavourings, or pesticides to publish studies that are used to assess the safety of these substances. The Regulation also grants the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) the power to carry out its own substance safety studies to a greater extent than it has been the case so far. The regulation must be formally approved by the EU Council next month.
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France plans to introduce a ban on the use of titanium dioxide as a food additive. The ban will apply to all food that currently contains titanium dioxide - ice cream, confectionery glaze, or chewing gum. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) evaluated the substance as a low risk in 2016; however, results of an evaluation conducted by the French National Institute for Agricultural Research showed that the substance caused carcinogenic effects with the tested rodents. The ban should apply from 01/01/2020.
More information is available here.

On 12/04/2019, the European Commission made public the results of the Polish slaughterhouse audit from the beginning of February 2019. The audit was ordered in response to the finding that some meat from cattle slaughtered in Poland was exported without proper veterinary check to some EU Member States. The final report describes serious shortcomings in the conduct of official checks in the field of food safety in PL and points to weaknesses already at district level. The audit found issues with traceability mechanisms, including the operation of a cattle database, there were no cross-checks, no access to the database for veterinarians. Meanwhile, Poland has checked 162 "high-risk" slaughterhouses, some of which have been suspended or closed. Poland is planning to introduce a number of new measures to strengthen the checking system, including introduction of mandatory camera systems in slaughterhouses. Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine have completely banned the import of Polish beef in response to the current situation.
More information is available here.