On 22 February 2021, 21 NGOs including SAFE called on the European Commission and the Council of the European Union to reject the 171th and 72th Amendment of the European Parliament in the CMO trilogues. Amendment 171 would introduce unnecessary restrictions on the labelling of plant-based dairy products. Amendment 72 would introduce legal uncertainty that […]
On 10 February 2021, a cross-party coalition of 31 MEPs sent a letter to Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, highlighting the misleading use of the term “natural” on food packaging. The MEPs urged the European Commission to tackle this issue by developing a clear definition of “natural” and stringent legislation to regulate the […]
The EU food safety agency EFSA will provide scientific opinions to help developing the EU-wide system for front-of-pack nutrition labelling of foodstuffs, including setting conditions for nutrition and health claims on foods. This includes the setting of nutrient profiles to restrict the promotion of food high in, for example, salt, sugars and/or fat. Read SAFE’s […]
The European Commission has taken its first steps towards launching a ‘code of conduct’ for actors along the food chain, as part of its aim to increase the sustainability of the food system. This sustainable code of conduct was much awaited since the publication of the Farm to Fork Strategy and the European Green Deal. […]
The debate about new FOP nutrition labels and the form they should take are evergrowing. In an article published by FoodNavigator, several commentators added more water to the mill, arguing that FOP nutrition labels using colour codes or scales (such as the now famous Nutriscore) are driven by marketing interests and mislead consumers. While other […]
Dutch consultancy Voedingsjungle, specialising in children’s nutrition, has criticised front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling schemes with across-the-board algorithms such as Nutri-Score, “whereby a dark green ‘A’ ranking does not neccessarily mean a healthy choice”. Nutri-Score, a FOP nutrition labelling scheme backed by a number of Member States and food producers including France, Switzerland, Belgiums, and Nestle, […]
In a recently published decision, the EU Ombudsman has raised concerns regarding the current procedure for the approval of active substances in pesticides by the Commission. The procedure is criticised for two main issues. First, the Ombudsman questions the Commission’s practice of approving active substances which had been identified either no safe use or critical […]
On 24 November 2020, SAFE and 4 of its members sent a joint letter to the ISO TC 34 concerning the draft ISO/DIS 23662 on the definitions and technical criteria for foods and food ingredients suitable for vegetarians or vegans and for labelling claims. The signatories urged the technical committee to amend the draft ISO/DIS […]
In the European Green Deal, the Commission presented a strategy aiming at transforming the EU into a resource-efficient and sustainable society by 2050. One of the main initiatives of the Deal is the Farm to Fork strategy which will also support enforcement of rules on misleading information. The current Commission’s ambitions well reflect the rising […]
The UK government has recently introduced a proposal to restrict all online advertisements of food products that are high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS). This measure is a part of the government’s strategy to tackle obesity issues in the country. Obesity is a major health problem in the UK nowadays. Nearly two-thirds of adults […]