Jams and juices:breakfast directives simplified

The EU Environment Committee has adopted the report by Paul Lannoye on the draft Council regulation concerning the simplification of five vertical directives on foodstuffs, a Commission statement reports. During the last parliamentary term (1994-1999) the Commission​ put forward proposals to simplify a number of directives on food. The aim was to pare down the excessively detailed legislation to the essential requirements to be met in order to ensure the free movement of goods within the Community. The five proposals for directives were approved by Parliament in 1998 and 1999 but the Council has since made fundamental changes to the original texts, requiring Parliament to be consulted again. The proposals are also known under the umbrella term the 'breakfast directive' and take Article 37 as their legal basis, as the five products in question are covered by the Common Agricultural Policy. The committee generally welcomed the Council's revised texts, but nevertheless adopted a number of amendments to protect the interests of breakfast-lovers. As regards the directive relating to certain sugars, MEPs welcomed the proposal to add fructose to the annex to the directive and felt that brown sugar should also be added. As far as honey was concerned, with a view to preserving quality and protecting consumers, it was felt that methods leading to a significant quantity of pollen being removed from the honey should not be permitted. The concept of 'filtered honey' should therefore be removed from the proposal. The committee also wanted to ensure that honey, and in particular honey for industry, did not contain any substance which might pose a risk to human health. With regard to fruit juices, Council had proposed a significant change by proposing two distinct product names, 'fruit juice' and 'fruit juice from concentrate'. Fruit juice as defined in the proposal did not correspond to industrial practice and thus the way was left open to fraud. The committee therefore suggested three product names: 'pressed fruit juice', 'fruit juice from pressed fruit juice' and 'fruit juice from concentrate'. With regards to this proposal on fruit jams, jellies and marmalades and chestnut purée, the committee welcomed the step taken by Council to require sulphur dioxide to be indicated in the list of products where the content was more than 10 mg/kg. Moreover, it felt that adding chemical flavouring to products covered by this directive should not be permitted, in view of the quality image which such products have in the eyes of consumers. Vanillin should therefore not be included among the authorised additional ingredients. The proposal for the preserved milk directive did not give rise to any objections and was approved as it stood.