MEPs vote to improve country of origin labelling

The European Parliament has backed plans to improve country of origin labelling and create more uniform information on food packaging.

MEPs voted to extend compulsory country of origin labelling to cover all meat, poultry and dairy products, as well as processed meat, poultry and fish.

Meat labels will show where an animal was born, reared and slaughtered in a bid to help consumers make more well-informed choices about the food they buy.

But MEPs rejected plans to introduce “traffic light” colour coding to show how much fat, salt and sugar was in processed foods.

The proposals had faced criticism from the farming sector, as some products such as cheese would have been deemed unhealthy because of its fat content. Instead the Parliament opted for daily guideline amounts.

EU ministers will now consider the legislation and are expected to make more amendments before it is agreed.

EU farmers’ group Copa-Cogeca welcomed the decision to reject the colour-coding system.

“This would have served only to confuse consumers and mislead them about the benefits of some agricultural products,” said Pekka Pesonen, Copa secretary general.

“In general, Copa-Cogeca favours a harmonised approach for nutritional information”.

NFU Scotland said it was delighted meaningful country of origin labelling had been agreed.

NFU Scotland chief executive James Withers said: “Current labelling laws are confusing and, particularly on processed products, are open to abuse.

“This vote takes our consumers one step closer to making more accurate and truthful information about the food they buy.”