The final version of the revised regulation on Geographical Indications (GIs), approved on Wednesday (28 February), boosts protections for food products and producers, though the Greens criticised the lack of mandatory environmental commitments.
Topics such as the changing of food habits and who bears the cost for the transition are politically sensitive and are not addressed in the debate on sustainable food systems, said EFSA director Bernhard Url, who is expected to leave in May after 10 years at the helm of the Authority.
The Parliament and member states struck a deal on the so-called breakfast directive, which includes measures improving the transparency on the origin of the bees’ product. Honey is one of the most adulterated foods.
Responding to the concerns of a majority of member states on the potential impacts of the technology, Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said that the EU is on “very solid ground” when it comes to risk assessment and labelling.
Belgium's EU Council presidency will hold a scientific symposium in April on the controversial nutritional labelling of food to “share experiences” on the system, reopening the debate between member states that use it and those opposing its adoption at the EU level.
Turin's famed gianduiotto, a small, creamy chocolate that melts on the tongue, is at the centre of a battle for European recognition pitting Italian artisans against Swiss giant Lindt.
Belgian customs have destroyed almost 2,400 cans of US-brewed beer bearing the slogan "The Champagne of Beers", France's Champagne Committee said Tuesday (18 April), in the latest episode around the bubbly's fiercely-protected designation.
Germany's agriculture ministry is not doing enough to restructure animal husbandry and relies too much on possible EU-level steps, Socialist agriculture lawmakers wrote in a joint paper released Tuesday (31 January).
Italians have not given up on opposing Ireland’s plan to introduce cancer warnings on wine bottles, hoping to switch the Irish government representatives to milder positions by approaching them in Brussels.
The European Commission and EU lawmakers will keep putting together all the pieces of the complex front-of-pack food labelling puzzle during the upcoming Swedish EU Council presidency after little progress was reached under the Czech one.
At the first meeting with his EU counterparts, the new Italian agriculture minister reiterated the arguments against the French colour-coded nutritional label Nutri-score as the forthcoming EU-wide food labelling scheme.
Geographical indications (GIs) will not lose features that make them different from other Intellectual Property (IP) rights by moving competencies from the European Commission to the EU’s intellectual property office (EUIPO), its head told EURACTIV in an interview.
The German cabinet approved Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir's bill for a mandatory animal welfare label on Wednesday (12 October), but the opposition and farming associations warn of inconsistencies within the EU single market.
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The last half of the European legislative term will be crucial for the future of alcohol labelling as the EU executive is expected to come up with important proposals on the matter.
Actions at the policy level and several initiatives pulled together by the alcohol industry point at digital means of conveying more information to consumers, but scepticism from part of the European Commission persists.
European certifications could help the EU achieve its environmental ambitions, a recent study showed, though the findings raised questions among MEPs who expressed concern over quality controls and the impacts on farmers.
The European Court of Justice confirmed on Thursday (14 July) that the EU's protection for feta cheese also applies outside the bloc's borders in a much-awaited ruling that settles a long-standing cheese fight between Greece and Denmark.
Every product produced and sold in Germany will soon have to indicate the conditions under which animals were kept, according to plans presented by German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir on Tuesday (7 June). EURACTIV Germany reports.
The latest revamping of the EU’s geographical indications (GIs) policy was marked as "an evolution" without substantial changes but still ruffled the feathers of food producers and some member states, who would have liked to preserve the status quo of the framework.
While Austrian Agriculture Minister Elisabeth Köstinger was keen to put the question of a mandatory origin label on the table of this week’s informal ministerial meeting in Strasbourg, participants said it did not make the cut.
Germany's agriculture ministry wants to approach the implementation of a national animal husbandry label "step by step", while also pushing an origin label at the EU level. EURACTIV Germany reports.
European lawmakers expressed concerns over a change of course in the EU's geographical indications (GIs) policy, drifting away from current rules and particularly European Commission supervision.
The French government is mulling over the possibility of not backing the French colour-coded nutritional label Nutri-score as the new EU-wide food labelling scheme, according to Italy's agriculture minister.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the EU's protected designation of origin (PDO) for foodstuff and drinks extends to services, allowing the French champagne lobby to carry off a tactical win in a legal battle against a small Spanish restaurant chain.
