Allister presses case on food labelling again
03 December 2008
During a debate in the EP Agriculture Committee in Brussels Traditional Unionist MEP, Jim Allister, raised again the inadequacy of current rules on food labelling.
The Committee is preparing an Opinion on a report by the Environment & Health Committee on "Food Information to Consumers".
Mr Allister told the Committee that it astounded both consumers and producers that though the EU excelled in rigid regulation in almost every sphere, in regard to the food which we eat it was slack and facilitating of deception. "The very minimum required is true and accurate 'country of origin' labelling, where the place where the animal was reared as the determinant, not some transient processing operation at a later stage. Bacon or sausages processed in the UK being labelled British, when the pork they contain came from elsewhere, must stop. At present minimal "processing", yes even the adding of seasoning, is enough to allow the consumers to be hoodwinked. My consumers aren't interested in where the seasoning came from, they are interested in where the meat came from, and they are entitled to know", declared the MEP.
Mr Allister also attached misleading packaging, particularly the use of photographic montages to suggest the contents originates from the country associated with the scene depicted. "A typical English country scene on the packet, doesn't mean it came from England, nor an Italian flag on a pizza doesn't mean it came from Italy. The consumer is being conned and so the package too must be truthful."
Dealing with an objection from the Commission that some packets don't have enough room to fully specify contents and origin, Mr Allister supported suggestions that every product must bear reference to the producer's website, where everything must be fully set out. "This is what we require for animal feedstuffs, so why should what human's eat be any less transparent in terms of its origin?", asked Mr Allister. Then the consumer can satisfy themselves about what their purchase contains and where it really came from.
Explaining that he had a dual concern to have consumers properly informed and local producers not disadvantaged by fraudulent labelling, Jim Allister reiterated that without such true labelling we were short-selling both the consumer and producer.
