Brussels, Belgium – In her State of the Union address, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a new initiative: “I can also announce today that we will boost our promotion budget to launch a new ‘Buy European food’ campaign. Because we can proudly say that our European food is the best in the world.”
The undersigned organisations representing the European poultry, rabbit and egg sectors welcome this recognition of the high standards and quality of European food. However, to make the “Buy European food” campaign meaningful, consumers must have access to clear information on the origin of the food they purchase and consume.
At present, EU rules require origin labelling only for fresh poultry meat and eggs. No such obligation exists for processed products (as nuggets, pizzas or ready meals), for rabbit meat (fresh, chilled, frozen and processed meat), or in foodservice and catering (HORECA), where the majority of imported poultry meat, egg products and rabbit meat are used. This gap prevents consumers from knowing whether they are eating European products produced to the EU’s high animal welfare, environmental and food safety standards, or imports produced under lower conditions.
For this reason, our sectors have consistently called on the European Commission to extend mandatory origin labelling to:
For more information, read our previous joint letter to Commissioners Várhelyi & Hansen.
Enhanced origin labelling would strengthen consumer trust and prevent unfair competition. It is an essential step to allow citizens to truly “Buy European food” and to recognise the efforts of European farmers and processors.
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On behalf of the following associations:
AVEC: Association of Poultry Processors and Poultry Trade in the EU countries https://avec-poultry.eu/
Copa Cogeca: The united voice of farmers and their cooperatives in the European Union. https://copa-cogeca.eu/
EFFAB: The European Forum of Farm Animal Breeders is the association that represents the animal breeding and reproduction organisations and companies in Europe. Members of EFFAB are involved in the genetic improvement of different farm animal species and represent a wide diversity of farming systems. https://www.effab.info/
ERA: the European Rabbit Association brings together national associations and federations of professionals from the main rabbit meat producing countries of the European Union. ERA represents the whole production chain (production, processing and marketing of rabbit meat). https://www.european-rabbit-association.eu/
ERPA: Created in 2007, ERPA aims notably at preserving and developing the production of rural poultry in Europe (colored birds from rustic slow-growing strains), in particular organic poultry and eggs, and at promoting its specificities. Further information is available on: https://erpa-ruralpoultry.wixsite.com/erpa-en
EUWEP is the umbrella organization, representing the interests of both EEPTA (Egg traders) and EEPA (Egg processors). https://www.euwep.org/