Green MEPs take on food safety

Set to ruffle the feathers of the food industry, the plan calls for 'better controls over the food industry in the testing of food additives, colourings and flavourings'. The highly processed European food industry today uses food additives, colourings and flavourings extensively in the production of food. Use which is dictated by tight regulations. Leatherhead valued the global food additives market at $20 billion in 2001, with 2 to 3 per cent overall growth. According to the Greens, although several thousand of these ingredients are authorised, toxicological studies of their potentially complex interaction in our bodies 'are missing'. The ten point plan also calls for all tax privileges for factory farm methods such as battery hens, to be removed. Organic farming methods should be promoted and regulations introduced to support small farmers and small local food producers. Confirming a widely acknowledged fact Irish MP Mary White said: "The big food scares of the past few years, such as BSE, cancer risks from farmed salmon, salmonella in chicken and bird flu have all shaken consumer trust, especially in meat and processed food." Launched in Dublin at the beginning of the week, the 'Dublin Declaration' from the Green party is also calling on the Irish government to oppose the granting of authorisation to a variety of genetically modified maize, called BT 11, during a meeting of agricultural ministers on 26 April in Luxembourg. If granted, the authorisation would clear the way for an end to the de facto GM moratorium in place in Europe since 1998.

Green MEPs take on food safety

Green members of parliament in Europe have laid out a ten point plan to tackle the causes of food scares such as BSE, salmonella and toxic residues in farmed salmon to 'restore consumer confidence in the way food is produced,' reports CORDIS

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