Horse meat labelling

16.3.2016

Question for written answer E-002213-16
to the Commission
Rule 130
Emma McClarkin (ECR)

Apart from cattle, the only species for which a system of identification and registration of live animals exists is equidae (e.g. horses). The Commission’s 2014 Study on mandatory country of origin labelling states under ‘administration burden for food business operators’ that ‘in practice it may not be feasible to obtain full country of origin information for all horses used for other purposes unless national databases are set up in all Member States’.

From January 2016 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/262 of 17 February 2015 strengthened the previous regulation on identification of equines, and Member States are now obliged to have centralised databases to record key information about the identification and ownership of equidae from 1 July this year.

Given that in the 2013 Eurobarometer survey 88% of EU citizens considered it necessary to indicate the country of origin for meat, and given that equine databases will be in place in all Members States later this year, when will the Commission propose mandatory country of origin labelling for horse meat?