MEPs vote to extend country labelling to dairy
In a vote on a range of food labelling issues this week, the European Parliament backed plans for mandatory country of origin labelling for dairy, and other foods including meat, poultry and fish.
Reacting to the news, the European Dairy Association (EDA) promised to keep in close contact with both the European Council and the Parliament to fight the COOL proposals across their legislative path.
Strong opposition
Joop Kleinbeuker, EDA secretary general, said the dairy processing lobby is “strongly opposed” to mandatory country of origin labelling.
Proponents argue that COOL would improve transparency and tackle misleading labelling but the EDA claims it would be costly and inefficient.
Kleinbeuker told DairyReporter.com that such a step would discourage EU trade, reduce sourcing flexibility, and force companies to change labels regularly. For example, he said a processor in the Benelux region that sources milk from its surrounding countries would have to change labels almost daily or adopt inefficient sourcing practices.
Meanwhile, questioning what value mandatory labelling could bring, he said: "Quality standards are high all over Europe so there are no food safety implications". As for sustainability, the lobbyist said the environmental impact of transport within the EU is very limited compared to the footprint from farming and processing.
Under current EU law, COOL labelling is only compulsory for some products such as beef, honey, olive oil and fresh fruit and vegetables. Plans to extend it to dairy and other foods, including meat, poultry and fish, has not been widely welcomed in the food industry.
Opponents argued that the proposals could prove unworkable and impractical for food processors which could be forced to constantly alter their labels. Nevertheless some industry sources suggested that the proposals could be designed so as to not impose an unnecessary burden on industry.
Barbara Gallani, director of food safety and science at the UK Food and Drink Federation, said: “There are still plenty of technical issues that need to be addressed including the proposed rules on country of origin labelling, which we hope will be designed in a way that ensures consumers are not misled without adding unnecessary regulatory burdens on industry.”
The adopted bill will now pass to the Council and then it is likely to return to Parliament for a second reading before becoming law.
