The European Commission’s Environmental Council has “broken the deadlock” on GM crop cultivation proposals with a political agreement around how member states can restrict or ban such crop production on their soil.
EFSA MGMT BOARD: "Bernhard will ...provide Europe with the best scientific advice to protect consumers from food-related risks..."
Doctor Bernhard Url is the new chief of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) after its management board confirmed the acting-chief as its next executive director this week.
European Union (EU) ministers are now considering a new EU animal health law, which has been approved by the European Parliament, and which would unite 40 pieces of existing EU legislation, easing implementation by meat and livestock businesses.
The question of how to define and label nano-scale ingredients will return to the drawing board, after the European Parliament rejected the Commission’s proposed regulation on Wednesday.
The European Commission’s proposals to ban the farming of cloned animals and the sale of their meat came under fire yesterday from MEPs, who thought the European Union (EU) should take tougher action to prevent cloning.
The European Union (EU) will have to make concessions on meat in its negotiations with the US for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a senior European Commission official warned last night (Tuesday).
Snack makers will need to iron out misperceptions and talk about health efforts all over again as EU parliament changes next year, says the European Snacks Association (ESA).
The European Commission has defended its decision to nominate four food industry experts to EFSA’s managing board, saying that EFSA’s founding regulation states four out of the 14 board members should represent “consumers and other interests in the food...
After NutraIngredients attended EFSA’s one-day transparency debate recently, we sat down with panel heads, and found an agency content with its transparency progress and its broader role as protector of EU food safety.
The European Commission is planning to recommend only partial country-of-origin labelling for products containing processed meats in a report set to be released by the end of October, Globalmeatnews.com has been told.
Members of the European Parliament have voted to limit the amount of biofuels that can be derived from food-based crops to 6%, but campaigners say the limit is too high and will lead to more rises in food prices.
The European Food Safety Authority failed to take adequate measures to prevent conflict of interests arising from a major 'revolving doors' case in 2008, according to a final EU Ombudsman ruling on the case.
The European Commission has proposed reduced legislation and tougher fines among a raft of measures to protect against food fraud in light of the recent horse meat scandal.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has finished its consultation on the safety of aspartame with a public meeting held on Tuesday with representatives of national food safety authorities, EU institutions, consumer groups, NGOs, academia and the...
The European Parliament has backed a proposal to list endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) as “substances of very high concern” under the REACH legislation.
European sugar traders have come out in support of continued sugar quotas to encourage a more competitive sugar market, according to trade association ASSUC (European Association of Sugar Traders).
On the day 27 associations issued a joint open letter imploring the EU to keep to its word and scrap widely despised sugar quotas across the bloc in 2015 - not 2020 as the sugar industry wants - Tate & Lyle Sugars jumped into the debate by saying...
Should the EU extend sugar quotas until 2020 any temporary measures to improve supply for food manufacturers will have little impact on prices and availability, according to Nestlé.
Revision of the laws governing specialist food products like sports foods, infant foods and gluten-free foods is set for a final vote in the European Parliament in December or January, 2013, with the leading industry group broadly welcoming the passage.
A motion from the European Parliament’s health committee has called on the European Commission to introduce tough new controls, restricting the availability of new third- and fourth-generation antibiotics to the livestock sector.
A European Parliament committee has voted to limit ultra-fast computerised trading on food commodity and energy markets in an effort to curb the kind of speculation that contributed to food price spikes in 2007-08.
A committee of British MPs has criticised the European Commission for demanding that the UK introduce a moratorium on desinewed meat (DSM), describing it as “heavy handed and disproportionate”.
The European Dietetic Food Industry Association (IDACE) says first-reading amendments to EU dietetic food laws approved in the European Parliament today can provide the basis for a ‘soft landing’ even as the current proposal sees the removal of images...
MEPs have voted to delay approving the way in which the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) spent EU funds in 2010 over concerns about possible conflicts of interest within the body and the high costs of its management board meetings.
MEPs, debating the European Food Safety Authority’s finances and management board, have voted to delay the approval of the agency’s 2010 budget citing excessive costs of board meetings and questions over the Parma-based agency’s independence.
A Brussels-based initiative on food information transparency using smart phone technology is gaining momentum with a broad stakeholder forum involving EU regulators, retailers and food manufacturers meeting on key project priorities yesterday.
The chocolate and cocoa industry has backed an EU resolution to tackle child labour in cocoa production and warns children may still have produced cocoa that is 100% certified.
The European Commission said it strongly regrets the European Parliament’s decision yesterday to veto the ‘percentage less’ claims on foods, claiming its proposal, if backed, would have favoured industry efforts to reformulation.
The European meat industry has criticised a decision by the European Parliament not to introduce food labelling that would display percentages of cuts in salt, fat and sugar.
The European Parliament has blocked a proposal to amend food labelling laws that would have allowed new 'percentage less' claims on nutrition content, such as sugar, salt and fat - a move the food industry says is a bitter pill for the food...
A committee of MEPs is calling on the European Commission (EC) to consider legislating against use of child labour in cocoa plantations that fuel the EU's demand for chocolate, while the world's largest food firm Nestle has outlined its measures...
MEPs have rejected the revised nutrition claims list recently adopted by the European Commission, a move which could be detrimental for reformulation efforts in the food sector says a trade body.
The European Parliament (EP) has approved new labeling rules for fruit juices and nectars that it says aim to prevent ‘potentially misleading’ names for mixed juices and ‘no added sugar’ claims.
The UK food industry has given the European Parliament's (EP's) final agreement on food labelling a mixed reception, with one consultant reckoning label changes cost £7,000 per product.
MEPs have voted to allow nectar manufacturers to drop “with added sugar” labelling and to permit tangerine juice to be added to orange juices made in the EU.
The European Parliament has urged Brussels to come up with new measures on animal cloning as a “matter of urgency” to secure consumers rights after a failure to reach an agreement on the issue six weeks ago derailed the entire novel foods regulation.
Recent calls from Members of European Parliament (MEPs) for warning labels on products containing artificial sweeteners are 'totally unnecessary', according to Professor Andrew Renwick.
In their current form new EU food labelling proposals would make regulatory requirements for the dairy industry more complex and burdensome, claims the European Dairy Association (EDA).
Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) discussions exposed ignorance among Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) about the food manufacturing and supply chain, said Nick Stuart, Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery (BCCC) sector group chairman.
The European Parliament’s Environment committee is pushing for a warning label on products containing aspartame stating that they may not be suitable for pregnant women – despite opinions from EFSA and the French food safety ANSES that scientific evidence...
The European Parliament’s ENVI committee will seek to hammer out compromises over several contentious amendments of the new food information legislation tomorrow, ahead of the second reading vote next week.
All is not well down on the novel foods farm. If food innovation in Europe is to thrive anew, MEPs and the Council need to get past the recriminations over the failed talks and remove the troublesome question of cloned foods from the negotiating table.
Last ditch efforts to salvage the novel foods regulation were derailed yesterday after the European Parliament and Council failed to reach agreement over the issue of cloned animals – with each side blaming the other for the impasse.
An inability by the European Parliament and Council to reach an agreement on the novel foods update due to disagreement over cloned animals and their offspring would send the message that no-one really cares about innovation, says consultant.
With EU institutions facing a ‘guillotine’ at the end of March regarding the conciliation process on the Novel Foods Regulation, food from cloned animals and their descendants now constitutes the main obstacle to progress.
The European Commission has adopted a new policy package on food quality standards that aims to reinforce the PDO-PGI scheme, streamline marketing standards, and provides guidelines on use of voluntary labelling schemes.