Article
Food labelling - know what you eat and where it comes from!
Food safety - 16-03-2009 - 16:32
An aluminium can without any labels or writing on it. ©BELGA/Picture alliance/M Redmann
MEPs last week backed a new report for food labelling that clarifies the origin of food and where it is processed. Nowadays a great deal of food is produced in one place and then processed in another country or even another continent. A good example cited was ready-made chicken packaged in the UK using poultry bred in Thailand. MEPs want consumers in future to know exactly what they are eating.
It is pressing for the origin of all primary products to be stated as well as the place of origin of all the main ingredients and raw materials used.
The report on "Ensuring Food Quality" was prompted by the Commission's Green Paper on agricultural product quality.
Consumer awareness driving measures
Romanian MEP Maria Petre, who drafted the own-initiative report, said, "consumers have become more aware of the agricultural contribution to sustainable development, climate change, food safety, biodiversity, well-being of animals and desertification."
Another example of a food the new measures could apply to would be Belgian coconut pralines, where the cacao comes from the Ivory Coast and the coconut from Burkina Faso.
REF.: 20090316STO51820