EU decision severely affects Mediterranean products

23.3.2016

Question for written answer E-002452-16
to the Commission
Rule 130
Lefteris Christoforou (PPE)

The Commission proposes to implement a directive on food labelling, whereby the various products will be classified by visual labelling, e.g. red for unauthorised products, green for authorised products, and so on.

A survey we conducted showed that the method, and the symbols chosen for the labelling and the entire approach will bring undesired and odd results. Science has proven that Mediterranean products and Mediterranean cuisine are recommended for a healthy diet. It can be safely concluded that the labelling directive is unfair towards and severely affects Mediterranean products only.

For example products such as milk, cheese, feta cheese, Parmesan cheese, Cypriot Halloumi cheese and olive oil belong to the products which are marked red (unhealthy), when at the same time soft drinks are marked green (healthy).

A few days ago, Parliament voted on a budget allocation for offering milk to school children. According to the Commission’s brand new thoughts, soft drinks should be proposed for schools instead of milk.

The directive would be damaging for Mediterranean products based on erroneous formulas and calculations which are certainly not aimed at protecting the health of consumers. Could the Commission state whether it proposes to push this directive forward?