News

At the end of 2018, the European Commission approved an extension of the French national labelling system for meat and dairy products until 31/03/2020. France originally launched the two-year national labelling system on 02/01/2017, the system covering meat, milk and dairy products in ready meals. If the meal contains more than 8% of meat or more than 50% of milk, the origin of the raw material must be indicated on the product packaging. Only foods containing 100% French milk and meat may be labelled "Produit d'origine française" (French product).

On 08/01/2019, the European Commission approved an offer for the sale of 80,424 tonnes of SMP from intervention stocks at a minimum price of 155,40 € / 100 kg within the 30th wave of intervention sales. The offered prices ranged between 128,20 € / 100 kg and 167,60 € / 100kg, while the offers came from IE, ES, FR, CY, LV, SK and UK, with a total of 119,933 tons available. From 13/12/2016, the Commission approved sales of 372,378 tonnes of SMP, sold at 357,527 tonnes of SMP. Intervention stocks should now hold around 22,000 tons of SMP. The next tender will take place on 22/01/2019. More information here.

All this Implementing Regulations are available in the Official Journal of the European Union.

A total of 80,424.05 tonnes of the skimmed milk powder bought into public stock by the Commission since 2015 were sold in the latest tender sale, bringing the remaining stock to around 22,000 tonnes out of the original 380,000 tonnes, stockpiled since the crisis that hit the dairy sector in 2015. The next sale will be organised on 24 January 2019.

On January 9th, the Government of Wallonia announced that the wild boars were ASF-positive outside of the buffer area (zone I), within the strengthened surveillance area (SSA) (zone II), between Meix-devant-Virton and Sommethonne. These two cases confirm the strong increase of the ASF cases towards the west of Belgium, that are reaching the border with France. These are the two first cases detected beyond the fences built in Belgium surrounding zone II.