Food plans put safety first

Date: 24/04/1997

By Michael Mann

AFTER seemingly interminable delays, the European Commission is finally poised to launch its Green Paper on EU food law.

The paper, due to be discussed by the full Commission next Wednesday (30 April), has been extensively rewritten in the months since the first draft emerged from the Commission's Directorates-General for industrial affairs (DGIII) and agriculture (DGVI).

The changes reflect growing concern within the Union over food safety, prompted mainly by last year's scare over mad cow disease.

The document, initially aimed at making a complex web of legislation more coherent, now contains a separate chapter dealing specifically with the control and application of food safety policies.

Commission officials stress this element was in earlier drafts but has now been given a new emphasis. But some food industry analysts claim the decision to amend the Green Paper and bring it forward now is part of the Commission's policy of doing “anything in its power to stave off the threat of a vote of censure from the European Parliament”.

With the paper due to appear alongside Consumer Affairs Commissioner Emma Bonino's thoughts on the future organisation of her reinforced directorate-general, it promises a possible “review of responsibilities for food safety”. It also points to the additional areas of responsibility granted to the Commission by the Maastricht Treaty, and asks “whether the Community should play a more active role in areas such as nutrition and health”.