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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
On 30 October, CSOs wrote to EC President von der Leyen to call on the European Commission to withdraw its proposal on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in order to safeguard the European Green Deal. The positions agreed in the European Parliament and Council on the CAP, work against the EU Green Deal (and the […]
The EC published its new Chemicals Strategy on the 14th October (read it here). The EU chemicals strategy aims to address the cumulative and combined effects of chemicals, including pesticides, stressing a need to accelerate work on methodologies that ensure existing provisions can be fully implemented. It is intended as a first step towards a zero […]
The European Commission worringly authorised a genetically modified soybean for food and feed, but not cultivation, on 28 September 2020. This soybean, the XtendFlex, was approved after a scientific assessment by the European Food Safety Authority. The soybean, produced by biotechnology company Bayer, has been developed to confer tolerance to three major herbicides: dicamba, glufosinate-ammonium […]
This Thursday 1st October, SAFE and more than 250 Civil Society Organisations sent a joint Open letter to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the Presidency of the Council of the European Union Angela Merkel, and the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament chaired by David Sassoli, calling for full […]
SAFE and 6 other organisations (Euronatur Foundation, the European Alliance for Plant-based Foods, The Vegan Society, the Good Food Institute, Compassion in World Farming, HealthCare Without Harm) sent a letter to EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski on Tuesday 29 September. The letter calls for a better alignment between the Common Agricultural Policy and the EU’s […]