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The World Cancer Research Fund called the study linking the causes of death to the consumption of red meat implausible and unsubstantiated

The International Fund for Cancer Research called the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 study, published in 2020 in the journal The Lancet, implausible, not considering the nutritional value of red meat and lacking justification and transparency. According to the GBD 2019 study, cause-of-death estimates associated with unprocessed red meat intake were 36 times higher than in the GBD 2017 study. Therefore, the International World Cancer Research Fund questioned systematic analyses of GDB risk factors.
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Ukraine has started negotiations with the European Union on the possible extension of duty-free trade until 2024

In the last two weeks, Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Economy Taras Kachka started negotiations with the European Union on the possible extension of duty-free trade until 2024. The European Commission has taken note of Ukraine's request, but no decision has yet been made on its compliance.

Commission published a review of the implementation of environmental legislation; Member States are to allocate more funds to achieve the goals

On 08/09/2022, the European Commission published a review of the implementation of environmental legislation. According to the review, biodiversity continues to decline in the EU, progress towards achieving good water status is slow, circular economy tools are not fully used, air pollution persists, and climate efforts need to be stepped up. The Commission said that Member States must provide more funding to cover investment needs to achieve environmental targets.
More information is available here and here.

JRC has published the results of studies focusing on food information provided to consumers

At the turn of 2022/2023, the European Commission should present legislative proposals regarding labelling, namely the labelling of nutritional values on the front of food packaging, labelling of the country of origin and labelling of the use-by date. According to several different sources, the European Commission, specifically the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, is now – yet to be confirmed with certainty – leaning towards a similar front-of-pack nutrition labelling system to the Nutri-Score system. In May 2020, the Commission released the findings of a study evaluating existing nutrition labelling systems, in which it said there was a clear consumer preference for simple colour systems such as the Nutri-Score. In particular, the traditional food industry and farmers have urged the Commission to prepare an impact study of the introduction of a system like Nutri-Score, but such a study has not yet been prepared by the Commission. According to unofficial information, the Commission is now working on the impact study, but it is not yet completed, and due to the delay in its processing, there is a risk of further delay in the submission of legislative proposals for labelling. In the meantime, on 09/09/2022, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) published four more studies focusing on consumer preferences (but not on impacts) regarding nutrition labelling and other labelling.
More information is available here.

Food prices fell for fifth straight month in August 2022, but still 8% higher than a year ago

The latest food price index from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) shows that prices fell for the fifth consecutive month in August 2022, but despite a nearly 2% drop from July 2022, food prices are still 7.9% higher than a year ago. The FAO index tracks the prices of five basic commodities, which fell across the board, ranging from 1.4% for cereals and 1.5% for meat to 3.3% for vegetable oil and 2.1% for sugar. For dairy products, the price of cheese rose for the 10th month in a row due to global demand for imports and strong domestic sales mainly in European tourist destinations. According to analysis by TradingPlatforms, high food prices will drive sales growth across the global food industry, with sales expected to grow by 8.5% in 2023 and 2024, the most in the last 10 years. The average price of food per unit will increase to €3.74 in 2024, which is 7% more than this year and 19% more than 2020.
More information is available here.