MEPs back origin labels for food as battle looms

Food labels should include mandatory nutritional information, inter alia on artificial trans fats and the country of provenance, said Environment Committee Members of the European Parliament on the 19 April 2011. The committee amended draft European Commission proposals to ensure that labels are legible, do not mislead, and provide the information that consumers need to make choices.

Representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council – which represents the EU's 27 member states – will now seek to agree on the regulation ahead of a second-reading vote in the plenary session of the Europeam Parliament in July 2011. These 'trialogue' negotiations between the three institutions will start on the 10 May 2011.

European Parliament: Press Release, 19.4.11: Food labelling: Environment Committee sets out clearer rules http://www.europarl.europa.eu/en/pressroom/content/20110418IPR18101/html/Food-labelling-Environment-Committee-sets-out-clearer-rules

ESO: Background information: Council agrees on new labelling rules for food, Brussels, 7 December 2010 http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-council-agrees-on-new-labelling-rules-for-food-brussels-7-december-2010/

ESO: Background information: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers http://www.europeansources.info/record/proposal-for-a-regulation-of-the-european-parliament-and-of-the-council-on-the-provision-of-food-information-to-consumers/

---