EU faces uphill struggle to agree beef labelling rules by deadline

Date: 13/01/2000

By Simon Taylor

THE EU faces a race against time to agree new compulsory rules for labelling beef products.

Union governments have set themselves an end-of-August deadline for reaching agreement with the European Parliament on legislation designed to boost consumer confidence in beef in the wake of the BSE crisis.

The Portuguese presidency has made clinching a deal on the new labelling rules a key objective for its six-month term at the EU's helm. But agriculture officials are warning that it will be very difficult to get agreement on the proposals in time because of the complexity of the issues involved. "We have only got until September to agree this by co-decision with the Parliament so member states need to reach a common position on the proposals as soon as possible," said one official.

Last month, farm ministers were forced to postpone the introduction of new guidelines until this autumn after it emerged that member states could not guarantee that all cattle were traceable - a key requirement for the rules to work effectively. They had wanted to postpone the scheme until the end of this year, but reduced the delay at Parliament's insistence.

Under the proposals unveiled by the European Commission in December, beef products sold in supermarkets from 1 January next year would have to carry labels providing up to six key pieces of information including where the animal was slaughtered or deboned, the date of slaughter and traceability codes. From 2003, labels would also have to show where an animal was born and fattened.

However, member states have questioned whether including all this information is either practical or useful.

Traceability codes are seen as essential because they offer a means of recalling cuts of meat in the event of a health scare. "Everyone agrees on having the traceability code included because it is the most closely related to health concerns," said one EU official.

But there is concern that some of the other information which would be required under the Commission's proposal could be of no use to the consumer and could even worry shoppers unnecessarily.

National officials point out that including details of how long meat was left to mature before being sold could unsettle consumers in countries like Belgium who like to eat their beef shortly after slaughter. Others argue that such detailed requirements would impose unreasonable costs on the industry, especially small butchers and other meat traders.

Most member states are expected to argue that the new rules should only make it compulsory to include 'core' information on labels, leaving it up to individual governments to decide whether to require more details.

The Portuguese presidency has set up special working groups to tackle technical aspects of the plan and hopes that their work will be completed by the end of this month, paving the way for an agreement between farm ministers in February.