On Tuesday (14 January) MEPs approved a text drafted by Dutch Christian Democrat MEP Esther De Lange, which stressed the need for the EU to approve a legal definition of using fraud to mis-sell meat. This would enable governments to approve laws that impose criminal law penalties when such frauds endanger public health, said the report. And with an EU-wide harmonised definition of food fraud in place, there would be no member state offering a safe haven for exporting mis-sold meat across the borderless EU.
The report also called on the European Commission to strengthen the EU Food and Veterinary Office (FVO), which carries out inspections. And it called for the establishment of a European network to combat food fraud, proposing that DNA tests be used more widely, to pinpoint where meat is sold as one species, when in fact it is another. The report called for more thorough inspections of frozen foodstuffs and for a draft law to make labelling mandatory for meat and meat products. This would include noting the country of origin, including for all meat-based processed products.
Speaking after the vote, De Lange said food fraud was big business: “We know that we are talking about billions of euros here. Organised crime is clearly getting interested in this.” She added: “Unlike the US, the European Union still has no common definition of ‘food fraud’, which has long been a blind spot of European institutions. Food fraud cases are the rotten apples that spoil matters for all those farmers, intermediaries and individuals who do respect the rules and destroy consumer confidence in food and food information.” She said fraudsters were better able to conceal their crimes within Europe’s complex food supply chains.
With the report being approved by 659 votes to 24, with eight abstentions, the European Commission will come under significant pressure to propose some of these ideas as formal legislation for agreement by MEPs and EU ministers.